Being up front and honest, my romantic history has consisted of only short term relationships, and as a result I’ve never really discussed birth control with a women I was intimate with.
However, I have discussed it with other women, and have looked into the subject on my own time out of sheer curiosity. Today I want to discuss what I’ve learned, a bit.
And by no means am I an expert, but I do feel I understand enough to warrant writing a blog about it.
More and more people are turned off by “pills” of any sort- myself included. Birth control seems to take a lot of heat- especially as more and more women want to stay “fit and healthy”(which unfortunately, often results in the exact opposite if that person follows conventional wisdom).
Consider the following, somewhat random observations (don’t worry, they’ll make more sense in a moment).
- Girls (and men) that become vegetarians, in turn often end up eating more processed food (further deteriorating health)- and this is aside from the fact that we are not evolved to be vegetarians in the first place. In fact outside of Tibetan monks, no purely vegetarian society has ever existed (to my knowledge).
- Women (and men) often drink “diet” or “light” drinks, when looking to get in better shape. They are NEVER any better for you, and can only be worse.
- Many couples prefer to use condoms over birth control pills and the like (due to the fear instilled with taking those substances and the hormone changes that occur). Meanwhile most women- and men- continue to live lifestyles that deteriorate hormone levels equally or even more severely than a simple pill ever could.
…
This last one is the focus of this post because it seems so hypocritical to me. Women will- naively- stray away from using hormone altering forms of birth control, meanwhile still consuming…
- processed foods (and lots of it)
- insulin spiking foods
- beer
- hormone laced foods (including common cow milk)
- lots of soy (vegetarians looking for protein, somehow forgetting about nuts?)
…and often times will take up “cardio” and aerobics- which are forms of activity that do not carry masculine stigmas like strength training, are simple to perform, and can be done “with friends” in the ever so popular group exercise classes (that I unfortunately taught at one point in time).
The problem with these activities- besides being detrimental to your overall health- is that they can further impact hormone levels (in a profoundly negative way).
I’m not going to get super detailed here, but let’s get some basic facts covered.
- Beer impacts estrogen levels in everyone.
- Soy does as well (right alongside many grains).
- Processed foods contain all sorts of random synthetic chemicals that can do far worse damage than screw with your hormone levels (think: hydrogenated oils/trans fat).
- Nearly every girl I have ever met in my life eats conventional hormone laced meat, day in and day out- albeit unknowingly. Eating hormone laced meat, IMO, is no better than consuming copious amounts of (strange) soy products .
This same meat is grossly out of proportion when it comes to omega 3 and 6 fatty acids as well (which can play a significant role, in, well damn near everything).
And finally insulin spiking foods.
What does insulin have to do with anything?
Besides doing it’s job- leveling out massive spikes in blood sugar- insluin (that your own body produces in response to high glycemic foods) screws everything up- hormone levels especially.
Having lived with 2 women outside of my immediate family- who eat largely the same exact way- for the past year, I have seen them eat high glycemic foods day in, and day out (among the other things listed above).
Pasta, bread, pasta, canned foods, frozen meals, pizza, more pizza, more pasta, tons of milk chocolate (and they are both relatively thin mind you), and so on.
Again, day in, and day out they are HAMMERING their bodies ability to cope with sugar (and therefore hormone levels as well).
It just blows my mind then to see women, following similar dietary habits, avoiding the “pill” like the plague, when they are already doing far worse damage to themselves.
It’s like deliberately receiving all the side effects of smoking cigarettes, without smoking, and then chastising other women when they consider take up smoking.
The contradiction this implies is undeniable and outright absurd, in my humble opinion.
Compound this with the modern “cardio”, muscle wasting, free radical releasing, insulin sensitivity reducing, metabolism slowing movement and you have quite the cluster f*** of a problem.
But perhaps contradiction is a strong word to be using as it seems if women simply understood what- widespread- harm they were already doing to themselves, the health concern over (possibly) using birth control would be a moot point in comparison.
…
You would think these sorts of issues would be rallied and protested against, but in fact the opposite is true. These concepts are unknowingly (strongly) supported by conventional wisdom.
Weekend in and weekend out horrendous quantities of beer are consumed- because hey, everyone else is doing it. Whole grains, cow milk, and other insulin spiking foods are touted as “healthy”- especially for women since apparently their bones are made of dust.
Vegan-ism is ignorantly promoted as “earth friendly”, “humane”, “the right thing to do”, and worst of all “healthy”. The real problem with the food we eat lies in the mass production and severe dependency on corn and soy- and how it permeates nearly everything we eat (including piss poor treated animals).
And best of all, the faux cardio movement continues to gain momentum from the ill informed, destroying joints, ligaments, muscle, connective tissue, and promoting weight gain.
So women (and men), next time you consider bad mouthing birth control, be aware of what other stupidity is currently being accepted as “widely known” and “healthy”, and consider shifting your focus to a more immediate problem.
-Dream
First time i’ve read an article on this blog. I found it interesting. There are too my knowledge more Pure vegetarian groups in India who follow it strictly. The Hindus in India is mostly vegetarian with the use of fresh farmed homegrown vegetables and fruit, without the side of milk and dairy(which are from local home cows.)
Ive read articles and blogs that are writing about the same things and that the only way pure Vegetarianism will become a considered by people is if it becomes ‘fashionable’.
Holy shit, you really do rock Dream. I got off that damn substance only a few months after realizing what all that processed food, pesticides etc was doing to me and had removed all that stuff from my diet. Then I looked in my medicine cabinet and got rid of those too. I don’t want ANYTHING that mimics estrogen in my body. I want optimum health AND ABS!! haha!! Excess belly fat? yah, you’re not losing THAT in any kind of hurry with all that excess estrogen racing through your veins!
awesome article. I’m gonna tweet it loud!!!
GWNN
Hey AJ
The Tibetan monks comment wasn’t the most well though out idea in the world, but the idea I was trying to get across is that there are no ancient cultures that were purely vegetarian. Man has eaten meat, fish, fowl, the organs of these animals, eggs, insects, and so on for millions of years without exception. As a result, the nutrients in these foods play an important role in maintaining hormone levels.
Jackie I’m glad you enjoyed the post, thanks for the tweet!
-Anthony
I wasn’t aware there was any sort of resistance or stigma surrounding birth control (outside of ultra-religious circles). Maybe it’s just the culture where I grew up – pacific northwest – but most women actively seek to get on the pill as early as possible, often lying to their parents about why they want it to mask the fact of their wanting to have more convenient and baby-free sex. Typical non-sex reasons for getting on the pill include: increased breast size, amelioration of acne, a regular (predictable) period, fewer/less intense cramps, etc.
Your argument, simplified, that if you’re worried about affecting your body with hormones from one source you should be worried about it from all sources, I think, is justified. However I disagree with your use of birth control as its vehicle and the premise that women (other than a small minority) are against taking birth control. (And to any who are, simply read that list of non-sexual reasons for getting on the pill; you’ll have them at “larger breasts.”) In my experience (and judging from the prolific advertising for products such as Yaz) there is no stigma surrounding the use of hormone based birth control.
Any resistance to easy and nearly 100% effective birth control (often times FREE as well) is most likely based on ignorant assumptions born of poor sexual education. Build knowledge to fight ignorance, not arguments based on contradictions in thought processes and logic (not that, assuming your premises are correct, this is a bad argument in any way. It’s quite sound.)
An interesting argument I’d consider taking on would be if hormonal birth control reinforces the culturally accepted norm of the monogamous relationship. The usual argument being “when you’re with just one faithful person, you don’t need condoms because you can trust that both of you are disease free.” Interesting to think about.
Hey Dasani, thanks for commenting. Gonna run through with >>>
I wasn’t aware there was any sort of resistance or stigma surrounding birth control (outside of ultra-religious circles). Maybe it’s just the culture where I grew up – pacific northwest – but most women actively seek to get on the pill as early as possible, often lying to their parents about why they want it to mask the fact of their wanting to have more convenient and baby-free sex.
>>>The topic of this post has been on my mind for some time due to hearing this sort of resistance from female friends over the years. It may be a regional thing, who knows. Also, this post helped spur me to write it (from Gone Savage)
http://gonesavage.blogspot.com/2009/07/anti-depressants-and-pill.html
Typical non-sex reasons for getting on the pill include: increased breast size, amelioration of acne, a regular (predictable) period, fewer/less intense cramps, etc.
>>>Thanks for pointing this out, I’ve only heard of the acne one personally.
Your argument, simplified, that if you’re worried about affecting your body with hormones from one source you should be worried about it from all sources, I think, is justified.
>>>That about sums it up. Although I would add to clarify, the argument is more along the lines of looking at the combination of things women are already doing to alter their hormone levels, before demonizing a pill (that does not equal the damage they already do to themselves, unknowingly, from daily habits, IMO).
However I disagree with your use of birth control as its vehicle and the premise that women (other than a small minority) are against taking birth control. (And to any who are, simply read that list of non-sexual reasons for getting on the pill; you’ll have them at “larger breasts.”)
In my experience (and judging from the prolific advertising for products such as Yaz) there is no stigma surrounding the use of hormone based birth control.
>>>Well, again, it may be more of a regional thing, or on the flip side I just catch wind of these conversations more since I’m always tuned into exercise, nutrition, health and so on. In fact it probably comes up in conversation a lot with simply because its always on my mind. So, perhaps the stigma is not wide spread, but from my life experience, it is there (in the college setting, in florida at least).
An interesting argument I’d consider taking on would be if hormonal birth control reinforces the culturally accepted norm of the monogamous relationship. The usual argument being “when you’re with just one faithful person, you don’t need condoms because you can trust that both of you are disease free.” Interesting to think about.
>>>Yeah Ive seen that discussed before. I may blog about it someday since I tend to agree with your thinking on the subject (well, based off what you just wrote and hinting at).
thanks again for commenting, cya soon man
-Anthony