patelToday is Love Your Body Day, a program instigated by NOW to counter the media-fostered ideal of slender, white, long-haired, able-bodied, perpetually happy femininity. We here at re:Cycling are all about self-love, Health At Every Size, and fat acceptance, but we’d like to encourage you to celebrate your cycle while you’re basking in all that body love.

“The menstrual cycle is a window into the general health and well-being of women, and not just a reproductive event,” according to Paula Hillard, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics at Stanford University. You don’t have to “have a happy period” (as one femcare brand likes to say) to appreciate your cycle. Whether you welcome or despair the arrival of your flow each period, you can recognize menstruation as a vital sign of health, letting you know that your endocrine system is functioning as it should. Of course, symptoms of pain and excessive menstrual flow should be monitored, and can be treated with medications or lifestyle changes as warranted, to be determined by you and your health care professionals.

So as you’re celebrating your beautiful body and all it can do, share the love!

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