I know, I’m back after more than 2 weeks of silence. I’ve been a little busy plus I forgot the password to my blog so that didn’t help. In my defense though, I have been tweeting and Facebooking the odd bits here and there… when I can be bothered or have access to my laptop.
Anyway, I was doing some thinking (easy there, don’t fall off your chair!) some time ago after I noticed changes in my body and after discussing things with a few random ladies who were kind enough to share their experiences with me.

As Muslims we’ve been put on this Earth to worship Allaah, we get married to have babies and increase the ummah. However, I know far too many many women, married and unmarried who have irregular menstrual cycles. As a result, some of these married women have been unable to conceive yet a few of them tell me “Oh you know, skipping periods or irregularity has always been normal for me” Spot the contradiction “Irregularity is normal”?? No, that’s what we call abnormal! Alhamdulillaah this wasn’t an issue for me but either way, since going GF and paleo I immediately noticed positive changes so I started investigating just how common this was for women who had either cut out wheat, gluten and or had opted for a paleo lifestyle for whatever reason.

My research (googling, checking out blogs and so on) showed that it was common for a good, clean, healthy diet to sort out menstrual problems even if you didn’t think you had them! I also noticed that it was English, American and generally white women who wrote about this. It made me think ‘Where are the Asians, where are the Muslims?” Why don’t we talk about this stuff, it’s important to us!’

My opinion is culture has been largely responsible for this. In Asian culture it’s taboo to talk about your menstruation problems, it’s taboo to say you’re depressed, it’s taboo to mention that you have a sickness or disease or something wrong with you because you have a fear of being judged, disliked or made to feel like you’re an alien, abnormal or simply not good enough for something.

Since when did talking about your health become a taboo?! Why are Asians so afraid of it? Why do we, particularly women feel like we have to suffer in silence and when we do finally speak about it we turn to a Doctor who turns to drugs as a means to “fix” us instead?! What part of this makes sense to you??!

One thing I noticed with Asians, and particularly Muslims whilst doing my research is that on websites which are pretty excellent such as healthymuslim.com, despite mentioning benefits of breastfeeding and things to aid a woman during pregnancy food-wise, there was nothing about mentruation, irregular cycles or fertility. Excuse me for asking but what is the point in telling someone how to breastfeed and why if she can’t even get pregnant?! There is nothing out there for the Asian or Muslim woman to talk about or learn about how to fix her body. Yes, we know some women are barren and this is the will of Allaah and a test but if a woman isn’t menstruating properly or regularly should’t this be addressed first? How many women do you know who suffer in this way even if they’re unmarried or not in a relationship? Most, if not all women want to have babies some day, it what we’re built for and it’s important to us so where is the help that makes this possible? I’m fed up of this silence. There is no shyness in Islaam so we need to break this mould and this daft ideology that cultureand our ancestors have enforced upon us.

One sister in Islaam told me she got married and thought the babies would just pop out like that! (Obviously things have to happen in between) But despite being married for a few years she still hasn’t conceived. This sister knows she has health problems and is also on a paleo diet and still trying to find her way and naturally, she is struggling a bit but it’s unfortunate for her because she expected and hoped to become pregnant by now. I should mention she’s on a paleo diet for health reasons and it was a process of trial and error that convinced her to try this out.
It’s disheartnening because she said noone ever talks about things like this. And it’s true. And you know it’s true. So, I have a plan, or an idea….

I’m gonna do some more research now I have a good couple of months free and I plan to gather experiences of women all across the world and use their stories to help convince you that what you put into your body affects your health and the way your body functions. I want to focus on women’s issues because it’s such a taboo and because noone else cares enough to talk about it. Women should suffer in silence, we go through enough as it is. And for all you men out there who think we’re just bonkers for no apparent reasons or because of hormones, I’m sure there’s an underlying reason for why you’re other half behaves a little weirdly and even if she has told you, I don’t know if you’d be able to fully understand how it feels.

I want people to send me their experiences, stories about changes, irregularity or ‘patterns’ they have noticed when it comes to menstruation. If you changed your diet in order to lose weight, conceive and so on and have a success story to share, please send those along too! Women around the world and particularly Asians and Muslims need to know they’re not alone and they need to know there’s a cure out there that helps. And by cure I mean a good, clean diet. Not drugs and medicines.

All emails comments, questions, queries and so on can be sent as a reply to this post (or any other on this blog!) If it’s of a sensitive nature I won’t publish it but will keep it hidden so only I can access it. You don’t need to give your real name and at NO point will names be published alongside any stories or experiences I share. Permission will be sought before I share anything I receive, you have my word.

If you know of anyone else who suffers in a similar way, please let them know and let them have their say.

Edit: I forgot to say, you can also email me here: glutenfreesalafi@hotmail.co.uk