Ammenhorea recovery- can I eat dairy?

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carlotaa4
carlotaa4 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all, I have been struggling with ammenhorea due to not eating enough to compensate intense and frequent workouts. I recently went to a nutritionist to try to fix this and he gave me a strict meal plan, despite my need to gain weight, in which I cannot eat dairy for example. Before I had ammenhorea I ate fage 0% fat natural Greek yoghurts with berries or a fruit as an afternoon snack, and it filled me up a lot more than his suggestions of just one fruit and 2 nuts. I had quite an intense training today, and after 2/3 hours after lunch I began feeling hungry once again, so I decided to eat one of those yoghurts and fruit despite “disobeying” my meal plan. Can I truly not eat dairy? Did I just make a mistake by eating it?

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  • JeBeBu
    JeBeBu Posts: 258 Member
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    There have been some that question intake of cow's milk in treatment of amenorrhea due to the various hormones in commercial dairy products. I remember reading various case studies in nursing school that debated this topic. There is a school of thought that avoidance of dairy is essential until regular periods, body fat percentage, hormones are regulated.
    I am not agreeing or disagreeing, just sharing....
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    You should ask your doctor why he said no dairy. Don’t ask people online.

    This ^^^^^
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    Talk to your dr, and ignore the nutritionist.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    JeBeBu wrote: »
    There have been some that question intake of cow's milk in treatment of amenorrhea due to the various hormones in commercial dairy products. I remember reading various case studies in nursing school that debated this topic. There is a school of thought that avoidance of dairy is essential until regular periods, body fat percentage, hormones are regulated.
    I am not agreeing or disagreeing, just sharing....

    I too am not agreeing or disagreeing, but if this is the reason for no dairy then you can eat organic brands like Stonyfield as a compromise.

    Back in the 90s when I was doing Weight Watchers I started eating a lot of commercial yogurt, developed hormonal-related issues, which went away when I switched to organic.
  • ThatJuJitsuWoman
    ThatJuJitsuWoman Posts: 155 Member
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    Could you eat other types of yoghurt, like soya or coconut?

    Is there a reason you can’t just eat more snacks if you’re hungry? Surely if you need to gain weight you shouldn’t have strict limits on the amount you’re allowed?
  • zylkm4
    zylkm4 Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm one who was underweight and exercising intensively for six years, and was also vegan. My bone density was low to begin with, and took a serious nose dive. I am already in surgical menopause for 14 years (but on hrt) so I couldn't relate in that department as far as losing periods (my first period was at age 16 and last at age 33). But I actually "stepped down" to pescetarian/lacto ovo vegetarian to help overcome a restrictive eating disorder and regain some nutrition. I did put on a good bit of weight when still vegan, but when I added small amounts of dairy, mostly Greek yogurt, some eggs and small amount of fish my body seemed to fill out more with muscle and fat. My bone density has improved considerably but also with help of meds, because it was so bad that no amount of diet or exercise was going to reverse it substantially. There are certain naturopathic doctors I have been to who suggested eliminating foods, but they didn't take into consideration my whole story, and I steer clear of people who encourage me to eliminate entire foods. It's just not in my best interest. I have an allergy to beets and nutritional yeast so obviously avoid those, and soy drives up my TSH (I have long term thyroid disorder and am on thyroid meds) so i do keep that on the low side, and I really dislike meat so do not eat that other than fish. I did have inflammatory marker tests which were all negative, and my blood tests for various micronutrients, vitamins etc are all excellent with exception of iron which is low normal (ferritin 40s, previously 22 when vegan; hemoglobin 13.7 now so robust, was 11.7 as vegan). My lipid profile is pristine so I don't worry about that. So I don't see a need to eliminate foods. I don't have digestive issues or any of that. I guess if a nutritionist asks me to eliminate a food, I would need to know the why behind it. Is it a medical reason? Health approach? Being a member of many vegan and vegetarian forums for years, I remember many cases where people started including dairy and periods returned. Hard to say if it was the added calories, fat, hormones etc. I think addressing the ammenhorea is critical as it can cause a whole host of long term problems, bone density being one of them. I will tell you that severe osteoporosis is not fun in the least, especially when it happens in your thirties and forties and you've got many years of life ahead of you.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    You should ask your doctor why he said no dairy. Don’t ask people online.

    What doctor?

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