I can’t believe I even have to say this, but your period is not ‘toxic’ or ‘unhealthy’

Period shaming is the newest absurd body trend taking hold of impressionable young women, and it's at the top of the list of unrealistic, dangerous, and absurd.

The obsession, initiated by a few vegan bloggers, has since reached the Facebook and Instagram feeds of thousands of girls, and it's taken hold.

“Many girls who lose their period often try numerous things to get it back," writes Miliany Bonet editor of the Raw Vegan Living blog.

“It's often advised to get your period back, you should stop exercising and eat more calories and incorporate more plant-based fats in your diet.

“What if I told you that everything you were taught about menstrual cycles was a complete LIE?!"

Well what if I told you your period wasn't something you wanted to keep away…?

These bloggers aren't just shaming women for getting their periods. They're shaming girls for being OK with the way their body looks when they have it: Bloated, less fit.

Freelee the Banana Girl, an internet health guru famous for her low fat, high carb diet says, “As soon as I came onto the raw lifestyle, I lost my period…I still believe that largely menstruation is toxicity leaving the body. So a lot of women are having these heavy, painful periods because they have a toxic body.”

Freelee isn't just known for her militant vegan lifestyle, but also for harassing and fat shaming other YouTubers she perceives as living unhealthy lifestyles based on their outward appearance.

Now other girls are trying. With nearly 7 million American women reporting an eating disorder, this new body “fad" — like any body fad — is dangerous.

“When women are very thin and don't have a period they may not be ovulating, so they have very low estrogen and this is a risk for osteoporosis (a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of tissue)," Dr. Jen Gunter, a gynecologist and pain medicine physician, told the Daily Mail.

“This kind of weight loss has other health concerns as well," she said.

With vegan and health bloggers claiming periods are toxic, women are taking to raw eating and heavy exercising to rid themselves of a bodily function that is entirely natural.

Amenorrhoea is the absence of a period for three months or more, but it also has other side effects: breast size changes, acne, increased hair growth in a male pattern, vaginal dryness and voice changes.

For a lot of women (and some athletes), amenorrhoea can be unavoidable — but that doesn't mean it's aspirational. The most common common cause of it is hormone disruptions affected by stress, rapid and excessive weight loss and excessive exercise — the same kind these bloggers are promoting.

Shaming a woman for her period is like shaming a woman for being a woman, and although it's something I expect from some men, it cuts deeper when it comes from the very women who are supposed to be building you up.

Who else is going to do it?

@carolinephinney