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I don't ovulate without grains


MrsSmith0812

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I know it's weird. Believe me, I've tried cutting out everything and everything just stopped working. I didn't drop weight fast, but I did drop some weight and the next thing I knew I wasn't ovulating. I drop weight unless I eat rice. :( I try not to eat any other grains, though, but I just don't know how you do Whole30 or even Paleo without losing weight and losing your cycle. Any thoughts ladies? And more fat isn't my answer by the way...I was putting away lots of ribeyes and coconut oil and still losing weight. Thanks.

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I agree with Renee, unless you've already tried significantly upping the carbs and it didn't work.

I don't know about you, but when I first entered the paleo dimension, I made the mistake of not replacing the harmful carbohydrate rich foods with beneficial carbohydrate rich foods, which definitely screws with the hormones.

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Yep I cut them out at first too - not on purpose - just that they weren't a part of my diet. Now I have to add bananas, squashes, yams/sweet potatoes into my diet every day (usually 2 out of 3 meals - sometimes all 3) in order to try to stave off my ketosis rash. So I'm wondering if you add all those things to your diet too, maybe ovulation will resume?

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Well this is where things get tricky...I probaby should've mentioned I have a FODMAP issue. I can handle sweet potatoes in small amounts but not too frequently. So that leaves me with squashes and white potatoes right? White potatoes I just don't like. I can't imagine I could consume enough squash to get my carbs up. You see my dilemma now?

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fruit can help also keep your carb count up. I believe butternut is the most carb dense of the squash family so I would stick to that over say pumpkin.

Eating paleo doesn't make your period go away. It's a lifestyle thing. We need to get your eating habits to fit your lifestyle.

Are you working out heavily?

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No I don't workout at all actually. I just don't have the time these days. Soon I hope to get back into walking.

A lot of fruits aren't that good for me either actually because of the fructose. I can tolerate berries, but nothing too high in fructose. You can see where I keep hitting roadblocks. Anytime I have something with too much fructose my stomach burns like it's on fire. It's awful!

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Whole30 always, always, always delays ovulation. Once I loosen up a bit, it always comes back. Paleo for Women talks about the need for carbs to keep the cycle in motion. I did a quick search and I couldn't find it, but it's in there. Unfortunately, though, I can never seem to find the magic amount to make things work.

How's your thyroid? If it's borderline and isn't being treated properly, that could be part of the issue as well.

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Whole30 always, always, always delays ovulation.

I'm sure you meant to say "for me" at the end of that sentence, right ;) ?

Personally, while my cycle was a little off during my first whole30 (I think my period was one week early?), it's now 28 days like clockwork (and I haven't changed what I'm eating since then). For sure, how you eat will impact hormones, but I do not believe the body needs grains in order to self regulate.

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I know you said you were eating ribeye and coconut oil. But I can't imagine you were eating that every meal or day....were you? (I would be impressed if you did!) Try adding in avocados, nuts, olive oil.....eating adequate amount of fat really helps me with my cycle. I would say my carb intake is moderate and is more related to my activity level but it was my fat intake that I noticed the biggest difference with my cycle. More fat will also help you keep weight on.

Also, how long did you give whole30 a try for? It is very common for women's cycles to go completely crazy when the start out but it eventually figures itself out so I'm just wondering how long you gave this a go?

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I was definitely eating a ton of fat! I love nuts, coconut oil, coconut milk (until recently it flared my FODMAP issues), butter, steak, chicken....it was definite high fat time. I also dabbled in zero carb for awhile, so it was nothing but fat and more fat! I only tried Whole30 for about 30 days cause I got scared when I was losing my cycle consistently....we're still trying to have kids, so I freak out anytime goes amiss. I'm going to try the butternut squash thing, though, and try to lay off the rice for a little while and see how it goes.

P.S. - Bananas don't bother me that much that I've noticed if they aren't overly ripe....Grapes are still if-y....you have to really watch the portions. I just stay away from most fruit besides berries....it's just easier that way and less complicated.

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Hmm, sorry to hear about your cycle troubles. I have discovered, for ME, that by following a Paleo lifestyle, it has helped me conceive the last 2 times. My husband and I had tried for 6 YEARS trying to get pregnant and were told by our fertility specialist that an IVF would be our only way of conceiving because DH had so few 'swimmers'. There was no way we could afford that, so we just figured we were not going to be having any more. I switched us from the SAD to Primal--I had found Marks Daily Apple and with in 3 months of starting Primal, boom! We were pregnant. I followed Primal straight thru my pregnancy and had a perfectly healthy 7 pound baby boy, born at 39 weeks. We decided that we wanted him to have a sibling, and since he was born I had discovered Paleo and the Whole30 and I started following it, doing my first whole 30 in August/September of last year. My period after my first one was 8 days long and really messy. In January, I really dialed it in again and I discovered mid February that I was expecting again. Pretty amazing for people and a woman who will be 46! when this one is born. NO fertility treatments either! My son was born in '11 when I was 42. Also, I know from experience that stressing over not being pregnant can really mess things up as well. Try to relax (easier said than done!) and if you want to chat Mrs.Smith, feel free to drop me a note.

Don't give up hope and see if you can work on getting those good carbs in. Besides squash and sweet potatoes, and some fruits, what about some of the more sugar heavy veggies like carrots and cucumbers?

**I should add that it was a good 3 years between being done with the fertility specialist and conceiving.**

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I have fairly severe fodmap issues too but my cycle returned to normal, first time in two years after two months of whole30 eating ( a whole 35 plus10 days with two non compliant days then I started a whole100, up to about day 80 now).

Grains and dairy were causing inflammation and disrupting my hormones. My fat was too low too, not your problem i understand but adding ghee into my diet made a huge difference ( its an excellent building block) as did eating less nuts (higher in fodmaps than I realized). I still eat lots of olives too. I have up to three carrots a day as my main source of carbs and a fair bit of squash. Just started to have parsnips and trial beetroot... Don't forget grapefruit is low fodmap too and probably has more carbs than berries. Oranges and pineapple are usually okay. Also in your case I reckon including white potatoes is a useful amendment. Can you get red skinned ones? They bake much better and are less floury. Now I am so far along I have them sometimes. They are mainly excluded to break the 'chip' habit or in case of nightshade intolerance screwing results.

It's a hard leap of faith to try it for a couple of months to see if everything fixes when you are wanting to try for a child, only you can decide what's best.

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Soooooooo... I love the Whole30 and I love eating this way (and it doesn't effect my ovulation), but...

...if rice doesn't seem to cause you problems (inflammation, etc)... maybe it's okay for your body to eat rice?

:ph34r: ::I feel like people are going to jump all over me! Hands on top of head! Quick, duck!:: :ph34r:

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Emily, that's a great suggestion, and one I would recommend myself if we weren't on a W30 forum. The only thing rice has going for it is its easy carb load, which can be achieved withOUT going off plan.

If you aren't doing a W30, we don't care what you eat! :D

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  • 1 month later...

Hmm, sorry to hear about your cycle troubles. I have discovered, for ME, that by following a Paleo lifestyle, it has helped me conceive the last 2 times. My husband and I had tried for 6 YEARS trying to get pregnant and were told by our fertility specialist that an IVF would be our only way of conceiving because DH had so few 'swimmers'. There was no way we could afford that, so we just figured we were not going to be having any more. I switched us from the SAD to Primal--I had found Marks Daily Apple and with in 3 months of starting Primal, boom! We were pregnant. I followed Primal straight thru my pregnancy and had a perfectly healthy 7 pound baby boy, born at 39 weeks. We decided that we wanted him to have a sibling, and since he was born I had discovered Paleo and the Whole30 and I started following it, doing my first whole 30 in August/September of last year. My period after my first one was 8 days long and really messy. In January, I really dialed it in again and I discovered mid February that I was expecting again. Pretty amazing for people and a woman who will be 46! when this one is born. NO fertility treatments either! My son was born in '11 when I was 42.

SpinSpin, Thank You so much for this post. My husband and I also TTC for four years already (we are 37). Your story gives a Hope for us! Thank You!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest Srptskrts

I agree with Renee, unless you've already tried significantly upping the carbs and it didn't work.

I don't know about you, but when I first entered the paleo dimension, I made the mistake of not replacing the harmful carbohydrate rich foods with beneficial carbohydrate rich foods, which definitely screws with the hormones.

It was the same for me - definately need to ensure adequate good carb intake.

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My daughter went paleo and also lost her period. I realized she was far too low carb (she's 14 with no medical issues so she has no need for low carb at all!). I talked her into eating sweet potatoes and more fruit and it came back.

 

She doesn't have FODMAP issues though. I agree with the others it's not that you need grains, you need more carbs, but since your carb options are so limited, that presents a problem.

 

Do you feel bad when you eat white rice? Most people say that while white rice is not a health food it's also pretty innocuous as far as grains go. No gluten, not as much of the anti nutrients as other grains (like brown rice).

 

My opinion (which is just my opinion :P ) is that if white rice doesn't cause you any problems then given your specific issues, I'd just eat it and not worry about it. But if you do feel that it's causing you problems then maybe try and eat more of the high carb foods that you can safely eat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey RiverSong,

 

I think I mentioned earlier in the thread that white rice would be a good option outside of the Whole30, but when you're on the program, it's important to keep ALL grains out, including rice.

 

There are other options.

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