Meagan with our booth mascot, Cuterus!

We’re back from another great year at Expo! Each year we’re amazed by the sheer number of people and companies who attend. We had a great time meeting people from all over the world and taking their photos with Cuterus (see image)! You can find all of our Cuterus pics on Facebook.

One of the most fun parts of Expo is getting to try out new products and visit old friends. Read on for some of our favorite things from Natural Products Expo West 2013:

• Sigg and Cuipo have joined forces to create a totally adorable line of reusable water bottles. Steve the Sloth is our favorite, but every water bottle in the collection helps preserve the rainforest with your purchase and activation code.

• Pacifica’s new skin care line kept our skin refreshed after long days at the show. We loved the Sea Foam Complete Face Wash and Pacifica’s partnership with the Ocean Futures Society.

• Fellow certified B Corp Kleen Kanteen gave us these awesome stainless steel pint glasses (filled with beer, of course!) for being part of the Benefit Corporation movement.

• The team at Sir Richard’s condoms always seems to be having the most fun, and we met at least one GladRags fan from their crew! We dig their cheeky “I won’t put chemicals or ______ in my vagina” marketing, and admire their success in providing condoms to developing countries.

• And of course, we got to visit with tons of friends! We shared dinner with the lovely ladies of Lunette, and were pumped to say hi to the folks at Rockin’ Green, gDiapers, Planet Wise, and more!

Cuterus says, “see you next year!”

About the author of this post:
Tracy Puhl is the owner of GladRags and is passionate about period positivity and empowering women everywhere. In her free time, she likes to volunteer, run around her neighborhood, and cuddle with her favorite cat.

UP FOR GRABS: HEALTHY PERIOD PRIZE PACKAGE

This package includes: “In Her Moon: Your Guide to a Healthy Menstrual Cycle”, an eBook by author and GladRags user Falan Storm, PLUS a $25 GladRags eGift Certificate. Just complete at least one entry option in the Giveaway widget below, and you’ll be entered to win!

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WHO IS FALAN STORM? Falan Storm is a Mamacita to three and a wife to one. She lives in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, homeschooling, living life simply, and sharing ways to live a meaningful, feminine life at falanstorm.com. “In Her Moon: Your Guide to a Healthy Menstrual Cycle” explores the ins and outs of all you need to know to have a healthy, pain free, and enjoyable menstrual cycle.

Childhood days

I grew up in a very small semi urban town called Garhwa in the state of Jharkhand in India. I come from a conservative middle class society where menstruation is still a taboo. As a child I remember, I would get curious about sanitary napkins while watching advertisements on TV. My mother would get embarrassed and try to avoid the subject. When I explicitly asked her about it, she told “you would know about it once you grow up”.

At the age of 11, I met with a serious accident and was totally bed ridden for months. My mother would fix a narrow pipe to my urinary tract to help me with urination. One day while fixing the pipe my mother saw some traces of blood in my vagina which was actually due to a minor cut received earlier while fixing the pipe. She thought I have started my periods and she told me about periods for the first time. She said that all girls and women get it. I was the youngest among my cousins and they had already started getting their periods. I realized why suddenly all my elder cousin sisters had started their private conversations and wouldn’t let me be a part of it.

First period and the burden of myths

I got my first period when I was 12 years old. I informed about it to my mother and she made me bathe with 2 and half mug of water. By doing so, she believed my flow would last only for 2 and half days. Nevertheless, I was a heavy bleeder like my mother and my flow would last for at least 7 days if not more. I started off with using old discarded cotton cloth folded in the shape of a pad to absorb the flow. I used to get debilitating cramps and my daily routine would go for a toss. Things became worse when restrictions arising from age old myths were thrust upon me during my periods. I wasn’t allowed to sit on other’s bed but just mine. I wasn’t allowed to touch the place of worship or anything holy in the house. I had to wash and dry my cloths separately. During periods I wasn’t allowed to eat or touch pickle as it was believed that they would get spoilt if I touched them. After my periods would get over, I had to wash the bed sheet whether it’s stained or not. In short, I was treated as impure or polluted and I was expected to have become “pure” only after the 7^th day when I had taken a bath and washed my hair.

I was strictly told by my mother to not let my father or brothers get even a hint of my periods. Since menstrual blood is considered impure, I and mom used to store the used and washed cloth pads in a very dark, damp and not so clean corner of the bathroom. Even today I feel sorry for the 12 year old me. My parents are well educated and were financially well off. We could have easily afforded sanitary pads but the question was who would go to buy them and risk their and the family’s dignity. Back in 1992 and even today in many societies menstruation is an unspeakable curse.

I got my first period when I was in class 7^th, and many of my friends did too. But the subject of menstruation was not introduced in our textbooks well until we were in class 9^th. Our biology teacher was a male and he asked us to go through the chapter on our own and ask him in case we had any doubts about it. The teacher was quite friendly to us and obviously his skipping the chapter made the whole subject of menstruation and child-birth a taboo for us. We learnt to deny our own body, our own self right from the time we start growing up and then everything surrounding it, be it child molestation, rape, periods, pregnancy, intercourse, even touching and hugging becomes shameful and embarrassing.

All this while I only knew that period were important so that I can have a baby some day in future. Becoming a mother is a big deal and a very important aspect of women in our societies. Woman who can’t bear child are considered unfortunate, unlucky and have no respect within the family or in the society.

Goodbye rags

Due to lack of better education I took admission in a school in a different city away from my home. I had to stay in a hostel. There was only one bathroom for every 10 girls. Washing and drying cloth pads was not possible there. I saw my roommate using whisper napkin. She told that one can easily buy them at the medical stores. So I went to the medical shop and very shyly asked for the brand name, the shop keeper wrapped the packet with paper and then put it in a black poly bag and gave it to me. I was using sanitary napkins for the first time at the age of 15. It was so much dry, less messy and comfortable as compared to using cloth pieces as pads. Over the next 12 years I had tried, testing and using napkins of various brands and absorbencies.

During my post graduation days, I got into a relationship with one of my batch mates, Tuhin. Tuhin was an activity partner and we often worked on projects together. We are now happily married. Tuhin has only one sibling, a younger brother, so he never got a chance to know about periods beyond what’s taught in the biology textbooks in the schools. After knowing about the inconvenience that I went through every month, Tuhin started to search for more information on menstruation and different ways to manage it in the hope that he could be of some help during those days of the month. He told me many things that I myself did not know about periods. It occurred to us that if there are so many essential things about menstruation that’s unknown to me even after having periods for past several years and in spite of being well educated, there must be millions others who might be ignorant about menstrual management. So I took up a yearlong project on menstrual awareness. This research project had laid the grounds for Menstrupedia.

Tampons

While working in Mumbai, I had joined swimming classes. I enjoyed swimming a lot and wondered how am I going to continue during my periods? That’s when I learnt about tampons and started using them but was always wary about TSS. Every time I used them I had to keep track of time to change them.

Menstrual cups

It was during late last year that I and Tuhin started our initiative Menstrupedia with the hope of sharing our knowledge and experiences about menstruation. While researching about the subject I came across menstrual cups many times but never felt a need to dig enough to know about them or maybe I was too comfortable and structured to try anything other than pad or tampon. While researching about various menstrual products, Tuhin found that the benefits of menstrual cup along with the overtly positive user testimonials made it definitely worth a try. So we bought a menstrual cup. Since then I have been using it without complaint. It has not only saved me money but also the trouble of buying fresh supply of pads or tampons every period and I don’t have to worry about waste disposal anymore and I would never like to go back to using pads and tampons anymore. That leaves me wondering, had I known about these different, better ways to manage periods, I wouldn’t have had to bear the agony of being a girl every month.

 Aditi Gupta is the founder of Menstrupedia. She believes in spreading awareness about menstruation in a fun and entertaining manner. In her free time she blogs about crafts made from common household waste along with the DIY tutorials.

Two years ago tomorrow, GladRags entered a new cycle. I was purchasing the company from its founder, the fabulous Brenda Mallory. We picked March 4th because it was the start of a new moon (a time for rebirth!) and because the date itself seemed an imperative from the universe: march forth!

For both of us, it was a bold step forward in our lives: Brenda was leaping full-on into her blossoming art career, and I was a 24-year-old office manager suddenly becoming the owner of the business I loved. Minds? Blown.

March 4th, 2011 after a glass of champagne!

I almost can’t wrap my head around all the things that have happened in the past two years. We’ve become a certified Benefit Corporation, launched our new website, partnered with Empower Women in Africa to bring cloth pads to girls in rural Namibia, reached thousands upon thousands of women with our message of empowerment, sustainability, and health… and so much more!

It’s an amazing job that I feel incredibly lucky to have. It’s been hard, too, of course. Who knew running a reusable menstrual product company wouldn’t be all sunshine and rainbows?! But you know what keeps me inspired and energized every day? The daily messages of appreciation we receive from GladRags fans — women whose lives have been changed for the better just by switching to our products! So thank you, for keeping our business growing and thriving, and for sharing your stories with us. We couldn’t do it without you.

So today, in celebration of two awesome years (and many more to come!), I challenge you: be bold today. Be fearless, do something unexpected, and enjoy the heck out of it. March forth!

xoxo

Tracy

P.S. Brenda and I haven’t taken another photo together (yet!), but rest assured we’ll be toasting each other with champagne once again this year!

Did you miss our Facebook Q&A with Nicole Jardim of The Healthy Elements? Not to worry! We’ve collected some of the top questions and Nicole’s answers here. Thanks to everyone who participated — it was a super fun and informative hour!

What’s the best way to prevent pre-menstrual bloating and sore breasts?

There are many ways to reverse these issues. You want to start incorporating vegetables that reduce water retention during the second half of your cycle. There are things like fennel (that’s a great one).

These issues might be caused by something called Estrogen Dominance, where estrogen becomes too high in your body in relation to progesterone. Symptoms include your symptoms as well as emotional symptoms that we experience before our period.

My best foods for reducing estrogen in our bodies are cruciferous leafy green vegetables, kale in particular. You can also try collard greens and mustard greens. You should eat them once a day. Cruciferous veggies have a compound in them called DIM that helps metabolize estrogen so any excess can be removed.

How can my diet or other lifestyle factors help with chronic yeast infections? I’ve started eating yogurt often.

I highly recommend other foods that have a high probiotic count besides dairy. Dairy has been known to cause blockages in the reproductive organs for some women because it can be very mucus forming. I strongly recommend sauerkraut, it is full of probiotic good bacteria that will help rebalance your gut bacteria and ultimately your vaginal bacteria.

I struggled with chronic yeast issues for a long time and I found cutting out bread and incorporating foods that were fermented (like sauerkraut) were the best things. Also, I definitely recommend a probiotic tablet like Renew Life Ultimate Flora Vaginal Support. It gets rid of chronic yeast issues very well!

Do you actually lose enough blood each month to make you anemic, if you have a tendency for that? Why do I sometimes feel dizzy around that time and not at other times?

I have felt that dizzy feeling on the first day of my period. Honestly, it’s your body telling you to slow down. Women are very cyclical by nature and at this time of the month, traditionally all women took a day or two of rest. Unfortunately we can’t do that all the time but if there is a way for you to start slowing down the couple of days before your period that would be a great start.

At the same time you could also be anemic, many women are. However, you don’t want to be. I would suggest checking to see if you are anemic through blood work and then getting enough iron into your diet through food. Also make sure you get enough vitamin C because it helps iron get absorbed by the body. I find a ton of things can be restored once you address the underlying nutritional deficiencies.

 I’m planning on switching from taking birth control pills to the standard days method, do you have any recommendations when it comes to making the switch? Ever since I started the pill I’ve had problems with yeast infections and want to switch to a natural method.

I use and highly recommend the Fertility Awareness Method. It was created by a woman named Tori Wechsler. This of course takes time before you should use as birth control but it can be highly effective for birth control and for baby making  Tori wrote a book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility and you should definitely get it. This method involves taking your basal body temperature each morning. It can be a little confusing at first but once you get it, you’ll know your body and your cycle so well!

What resources (online or easily accessible) do you recommend for people to educate themselves about ‘natural’ healthy cycles and how their menstrual system works? Thanks!

Download  The Healthy Elements Women’s Health Resource List.

This guest post comes to us from Nicole, a women’s holistic health coach and the creator of Fix Your Period, a series of private and group programs that empower women to heal their menstrual conditions in a sassy and fun way. Join us Wednesday, February 20th, at 11 am PST/2 pm EST for a live Q&A session with Nicole on our Facebook page. Nicole will be answering your questions about diet, hormones, and health, to help you learn to love your period!

I used to be that girl who dreaded the week before my period AND my period. It would begin with the ridiculous sugar cravings (yes the kind where eating a whole chocolate cake would be just fine), then the bloating would start (probably because of the whole chocolate cake), soon after I’d morph into someone I didn’t recognize and it would all culminate in the worst cramps ever (think the kind of cramps that make you throw up and want to pass out). Then I’d finally get my period! That was my life for many years and I felt like I had no control over my body or what was happening to it every month. Approximately 80% of women struggle with similar issues every single month so I’m sure you can relate.

Eventually I figured out that I do have control – I have control over the food that I eat and how I live my life. Who knew!? I have learned over the years that every bite you take counts when it comes to how your body functions and how you want to feel physically and emotionally. Yes, food affects you emotionally. I have also learned that the main cause of PMS symptoms is an underlying hormonal imbalance in which your estrogen levels increase while your progesterone levels stay the same or decrease. This is known as Estrogen Dominance and it is very prevalent in younger women. The good news is its totally treatable by changing the food that you eat!

Check out my top three foods for combatting those dreaded PMS symptoms:

1. Dark leafy greens:

I’m sure you hear about them often but the term “dark leafy greens” might seem a little ambiguous. For instance, I used to go into Whole Foods and stare at the vast selection of green vegetables wondering what I could possibly do with any of them. Eventually I’d give up and walk out defeated and empty-handed. Then I did a little research and discovered that there are so many ways to cook and

Leafy greens have three crucial nutrients your body needs to eliminate PMS symptoms:  calcium, magnesium and the B vitamins. Calcium combats bloating and helps regulate brain chemicals that affect our mood. Magnesium is a muscle relaxant and therefore helps the uterine muscles relax, reducing or eliminating menstrual cramps. B vitamins, in particular B6, increase the rate at which the liver de-activates excess estrogen and sends it to the colon for removal.eat them. My favorites are kale, swiss chard, spinach and beet greens.

2. Complex carbohydrates:
Brown rice, quinoa and sweet potatoes are my absolute favorites. Complex carbohydrates provide sustained and high-quality energy because the body digests them slowly. Their high fiber content regulates blood sugar and gets the bowels moving! As I mentioned above, once your liver de-activates excess estrogen, it is sent to the colon for removal. So, in order to actually excrete the excess estrogen from your body you need to have enough fiber to move it on out. Otherwise, the estrogen will get reabsorbed back into your blood, even after your liver has tried to remove it. As you can imagine, this is no good.

FYI: carbohydrates such as white rice and white bread don’t count! Once eaten, they act the same as a chocolate bar, spiking and then crashing your blood sugar soon after. This will worsen the symptoms of a hormonal imbalance – namely that crazy-girl behavior that is so prevalent during PMS time.

3. Foods with Omega-3 Fatty Acids:
There has been lots of talk in recent years about Omega-3’s, and for good reason. Without getting too scientific, I’ll say that Omega-3 fatty acids suppress the production of inflammation-causing compounds in the body, thus reducing conditions caused by inflammation.

Scientists have found a correlation between low omega-3 concentrations in the blood and increased menstrual cramps, breast tenderness, nausea, headaches and depression. Hello, awesome! The fish that are highest in omega-3 fatty acids are salmon, sardines and tuna. For those of you who don’t eat seafood or don’t have access to it I recommend eating lots of avocados, walnuts and chia seeds and/or taking a daily fish oil supplement that provides 1000mg of Omega-3’s.

Okay, that about sums up the very best foods you should be eating all month long to reduce or eliminate your PMS symptoms. Remember, you don’t have to continue to suffer. The truth is that suffering every month is completely unnecessary and you have the power to change it!

Nicole Jardim is a women’s holistic health coach and founder of The Healthy Elements, where she helps women fix their periods one hormone at a time. 

Here’s a chance to win the top three items you would like to have from GladRags.com. Just use the widget below to create your wishlist. Like us, Tweet a special message and join our Savings Club for extra entries!

Not sure what you want? Browse our online store for inspiration!

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Great news from our friends at Empower Women in Africa! They’ve been chosen by Huffington Post as one of the top start-up NGOs in the nation! There are five different categories, each with two organizations in competition for a $10,ooo grant from IGNITEgood. This means that Empower Women in Africa is now competing against just one other organization within the Health and Wellness category!

Why choose EWA over their category competitor? Three reasons: sustainability, local ownership, and low-cost/far reach.

“EWA provides a means to increase education for girls, which creates opportunities lasting throughout their lifetimes. EWA is transitioning to local production, where women are taught to make and sell pads with locally available resources so communities can reap the benefits long after EWA is gone. To date, EWA has reached more than 2,500 girls throughout Africa solely through volunteer work and donations.” – Lori Schippers, founder of EWA

To cast your vote — no login, account setup, or email address entry form required:

1. Visit  the voting page here

2. Scroll down to the Health & Wellness category

3. Select Empower Women in Africa and click VOTE!

We hope you’ll join us in supporting this amazing organization!

Here at GladRags, we’re always looking for ways to improve the way we do business. Sometimes, the solution is obvious (recycle everything) and sometimes, it’s not so straightforward. When we became a Benefit Corporation (more on that here!) we realized that we had room for improvement with our merchant services provider.

First off, what in the world is a merchant services provider? They’re the ones who make accepting credit cards possible, by processing the customer’s card and charging a small fee to the seller. As a company that sells products online, this is a service we use every day. So we thought: how can we make this super important part of our operations fall in line with our values?

After some research, we discovered Dharma Merchant Services and fell in love. Like GladRags, Dharma is also a Benefit corporation, with a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. Even better, they donate 10% of their revenue from fees to a non-profit organization of our choice!

We’re proud to have chosen to continue our support of Empower Women in Africa with this added revenue source, and thank YOU, our customers, for every transaction you make with us. Any time you place an order with us, you’ll be adding to the amount Dharma Merchant Services will send to Empower Women in Africa, at no cost to you. Just another reason to feel amazing about shopping at GladRags.com!

We want to hear from you: what else can we do to make our impact on people and the planet even more positive? Tell us in the comments!

How long have you used reusable menstrual products?: Since 2008-2009

Reason for making the switch to reusables: I was taking a class on feminism and pop culture, and came across articles and stories of these cups and pads, that womyn made and advocated. I felt so empowered that I had to try it myself, and it was around the time that I was becoming aware of waste, sustainability, organic food, etc. After the first months, I was hooked! I talked to my friends, family, men and womyn about reusables! I still do! I hold workshops at schools, gardens, and at homes about these products!