Let's talk about periods!
- Lydia Siamando
- Jul 14, 2018
- 5 min read
Photo credit: Sara Eshu
Disclaimer: Neither Demi or I are healthcare professionals, so if you have any concerns please go see a GP.
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself!
A: I’m Demi Spaccavento, also known as Mrs Spaccavento because I’m a high school teacher. I teach English and Visual Arts, but now I deliver menstrual and reproductive health education seminars in high schools to teach girls about periods.
I am 25 . . . although it feels like I was 19 like last year! My favorite color is white (yes it can be a color). And I never used a tampon until I was 24. I only tried it twice and then stopped. Crazy, I know. But they always scared me. Hehe. I use menstrual cups and pads.
Q: Demi, I think you are doing such amazing work with Bright Girl Health and I have personally learned many things from the posts you share. Can you share how this all started?
A: This is a good story! On my honeymoon in Bali, my husband and I were dreaming about what the next couple of years held for us, and I had been thinking about writing my own health education seminars for high school girls for about 9 months at that point. I decided on that trip, that when I came back home, I would go for it.
Here’s where it gets cool: In the airport, on our way home I saw a post on Instagram from Nat Kringoudis, a doctor of Chinese medicine and women’s health expert, whose YouTube channel first introduced me to the period health world. Nat’s post was announcing that she was starting a mentorship program for girls who were starting businesses in health and you could apply. Talk about perfect timing! So, I applied.
Now, this is where it gets really interesting. After submitting my application to Nat’s mentorship (but before hearing back) I was called by a school and offered a permanent full-time position (I was only teaching casually at this point). It was basically a dream job they were offering me. But I was so torn because I knew I couldn’t start a business and give it my 100% effort and make myself proud and also work a full-time teaching job that I’d also want to give my full attention to. So, after lots of crying (lol), prayer and talking to my husband and my mum, my gut (and my loved ones) were telling me that I needed to take the leap of faith and turn down the dream job to pursue what was in my heart to do.
And here’s where it gets really cool . . . A few days after I turned down the job, Nat contacted me and told me she’d love to mentor me as I start my business – talk about timing! Her help has been the biggest blessing on this journey.
Since then I have been working hard to make Bright Girl Health seminars the best they can be. Going more into depth about the menstrual cycle and even reproductive health conditions and infertility is so needed in schools!
Q: The title of this blog is called let’s talk about periods, so let’s get a bit personal haha! Can you briefly explain the period cycle and tips/ways on dealing with the pain?
A: I love talking about periods! I am always posting interesting “little known facts” (like the fact that there are 3 holes “down there”, or that there are more days in a month where it’s impossible to get pregnant than days where it’s possible) as well as tips for pain and period irregularities on my Instagram account.
It’s interesting the amount of people who comment saying that they never knew some of the information I was sharing. My goal is that no woman feels left in the dark about what’s happening inside her own body when it comes to having a period so that every girl can take her health into her own hands.
The menstrual cycle is called a cycle for a reason. It’s not just the days you are bleeding! It involves the entire cycle of hormonal changes that cause physical and emotional changes throughout the month. This happens as your body prepares for ovulation (when your ovaries release an egg) by thickening your endometrium, which is the lining of your uterus that has the potential for an ovulated egg to implant in it (which is the start of pregnancy). When your body realises it didn’t get pregnant that month, it realises it doesn’t need the thickened endometrium it worked to build up, so it gets rid of it. And that is your period blood.
As our hormones rise and fall throughout the month, so does the way we feel physically, and so do our moods!
However, hormone balance is a delicate thing. Our lifestyle, diet, age, genetics and health conditions can influence our hormones to become unbalanced. This is when we start to see more unwanted period symptoms like period pain, worse PMS symptoms, acne, missing periods, heavy periods, clotting, light periods, breast soreness . . . the list goes on.
The good news is that there is always something we can do to balance our hormones (this is my motto nowadays). This includes dietary changes, getting more/better quality sleep, managing our stress better (this is huge for health hormones) and regular exercise.
Everybody’s body is different, so what each person needs to balance their hormones and get rid of period pain will vary.
If I had to give 1 tip for period pain though it would be to ditch inflammatory foods. These include refined sugar, gluten, dairy and unhealthy or saturated fats from junk foods. As well as any food you’re allergic to. A lot of people are allergic to gluten or dairy and even soy, and eating them causes more inflammation.
Inflammation = pain . . . so these foods will exaggerate your period symptoms.
Q: As a young/teen girl, did you imagine/dream this is what you’d be doing when you’re older? Has this always been a passion of yours?
A: No way! I was one of the people who had no idea what they wanted to do after school. I’m sure lots of people can relate to that. Looking back – I totally don’t think you need to know either!
I always had a passion for people and helping people, which made going into high school teaching a good choice for me. But I still didn’t feel like that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life (who knows where the adventure of life will take me?) After school, I discovered a passion I didn’t have before for health, particularly food. I love learning about health. Which also makes health education a good choice for me.
Then in 2016, when my gorgeous husband proposed to me, I realised that I needed to educate myself about contraception . . . and in that process I discovered a lot about periods, the female reproductive system, pregnancy and hormone health that shocked me. It shocked me because I realised that for the first twenty-something years of my life I was so out of tune with what was happening in my body with my menstrual cycle each month. And then I told my friends what I learned and I realized a lot of them didn’t know it either! Some adults I talked to didn’t even know how many holes they had “down there”.
As a teacher it made sense that I would take this empowering information that I learned and help equip young girls to understand their bodies better, use their period cycle to their advantage and realize:
that your period doesn’t have to be your enemy!
Q: Lastly, if you could encourage someone with one sentence, what would this sentence be?
A: There is always something you can do in every day to improve your period health! (Big or small - like diet and lifestyle changes or even reaching out to a professional).
If you want to learn more about BGH, visit:
Website: http://brightgirlhealth.com/
Instagram: @brightgirlhealth
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