Over the past couple of weeks I’ve discussed endometriosis as an inflammatory condition. To help your body fight the inflammation, a probiotic can be very beneficial.

So which probiotic strain could you try?

There is evidence that a lactobacillus gasserii works well to assist in improving your microbiome and combat the inflammation.

You can also try lactobacillus reuteri or planterum, or a probiotic with all 3 strains.

You can take the probiotic orally, rectally or vaginally, and the best time to do so is just before bed.

Do you use probiotics in your management of endometriosis? What are your experiences with it?

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Endometriosis has a connection with your immune system.

Women with endometriosis:

• have less natural killer cells
• release too many cytokines in the presence of certain bacteria
• produce more antibodies
• produce more lymphocytes in the pelvis, but they are less active

Women with endometriosis also have more bacteria like eColi in their pelvic and urinary system. Traditional medication for endometriosis increases the activity of these bacteria, making your endometriosis worse.

So, what does that mean to you if you have endometriosis?

Your microbiome regulates your immune system, so by improving your microbiome, you can help you immune system function better.

Your first step could be to remove anti-inflammatory proteins from your diet: gluten in particular (removing gluten from the diet has shown an improvement in 75% of women with endometriosis).

You could also either remove dairy altogether, or switch to A2 dairy (goat and sheep) – especially if you had recurring upper respiratory infections as a child.

Try for a couple of cycles and see if you experience a reduction in pain.

Have you removed gluten and dairy from their diet and seen an improvement in your endometriosis?

Did you miss the previous post on endometriosis? Here it is:

• Endometriosis: an oestrogen problem?

She half-jokingly reasoned that since she was going to burn of some calories that day, it would be okay to eat something high in calories.

We make these trade-offs all the time, and it makes us feel better about both the exercising and the snacking.

And if your approach to health and being healthy is about calories and weight loss – or keeping the weight where it is – than this kind of thinking makes sense.

But weight loss and health don’t necessarily go together. I’ve written about that misconception here.

The same goes for fitness and health. Just getting fitter does not necessarily mean you’re getting healthier.

So why is that?

Firstly, let me make it clear that I absolutely believe we all need to move more. Our bodies are built for standing, walking and running. Not for sitting! Sitting is often referred to now as the new smoking. This article by the Victorian government explains the impact of sitting: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/the-dangers-of-sitting

So if you’ve decided to get fit, perhaps by walking more, going for regular swims, working out in the gym, doing dance classes, playing tennis, whatever you chose, fantastic!!

But if that’s all you’re doing towards better health you may actually go backwards.

Yes, backwards!

You see, when you up your physical activity levels, your nutrition needs change.  To help your body deal with the increased demands, it needs more of the good stuff.

More plant-based food (fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, wholegrains), better quality protein (meat, chicken, fish, dairy, pulses, legumes), and fats (olive oil, nuts, seeds, oily fish) to support:

• the muscle strengthening,
• the increased work your heart and lungs need to do,
• as well as your increased metabolism.

Not more food! Just better food! Non-processed, home-cooked, natural whole food.

So how are you going to support your hard working body in it’s attempts to get fitter?

A question for you: what do you think is the percentage of women that suffers from Endometriosis?

1 in 10!

So if it’s not you, chances are that one of your female friends, sister, daughter, mother or colleagues suffers from Endometriosis.

The main symptoms are pain during menstruation; during ovulation, or chronic pelvic pain and unusual bleeding, and it is caused by pieces of the womb lining growing outside the uterus.

It is often missed during diagnosis, and may be mis-diagnosed as PCOS.
And when it is diagnosed correctly, it is treated as an hormonal disease. The conventional treatment is to try to shut down oestrogen in your body – with the pill or medication that creates a menopause-like state.

But is Endometriosis an oestrogen problem?

Endometriosis is NOT an hormonal disease. Did you know that it is most similar to Inflammatory Bowel Disease – not any other oestrogen related disease.

This month is Endometriosis Awareness Month and over the coming weeks I will give you some insights into how nutrition can help with Endometriosis.