Do Sugar and Gluten Affect My Menstrual Cycle?

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I broke up with processed sugar nearly four months ago on August 5, 2018. I’m still eating as much fruit as I want. I’ve also had sugar I’m sure at restaurants, but I’m not worried about a random sprinkle of sugar on a savory dish. My problem is with sugary desserts: cakes, ice cream, cookies, more ice cream, candy, and did I mention ice cream?

Since August 5th, I have allowed myself a few desserts. I can count them on one hand:

  1. Some candy the day before Halloween because hello, the day before Halloween.
  2. Tons of little mini bars on Halloween. Delicious.
  3. Apple pie and ice cream on Thanksgiving.
  4. A slice of boysenberry pie the day after Thanksgiving. And by “slice,” I mean “about 1/4 of the pie.”
  5. 1.5 Red Vines the Saturday after Thanksgiving while at the movies with my kids.

Compared to how much sugar I was eating (ahem, inhaling) before the Great Sugar Breakup of August 2018, this is basically nothing.

Then there’s gluten. I’m sensitive to a protein in wheat and oats, so I’ve been avoiding all things gluten and oats since mid-August.

I’ve lost ten pounds, but bonus points: my menstrual cycle has changed. My cycle used to be unpredictable, ranging from 28 days to 35 days long. There was only one thing that was dependable about my cycle: PMS. I would always have some mood swings and a night of awesome insomnia right before my monthly visitor arrived.

Since eliminating processed sugar and gluten, my cycle has been 28 days or less. Most recently, I had a 26 day cycle! I’d complain about having my period more frequently, but I’ve noticed that I’m experiencing less PMS. My mood swings are not nearly as drastic, and I did not have insomnia this past cycle. Woot woot!

I initially assumed my body was just changing with age (I’m nearly 40), but then I realized my cycle changed shortly after I dropped sugar and gluten. That seems like too much to be a coincidence, no?

Next up: I’ve decided to get really, really, really, amazingly good at eating my vegetables. Hopefully I’ll keep seeing positive changes on the health front. I’m nearly forty years old and I’m finally accepting that old axiom: you are what you eat.