Three Ways Your nutrition & Lifestyle Can Help With Endometriosis & Adenomyosis

Endometriosis can literally take over your life, and if you’ve experienced this (like the other 176 Million women worldwide), or adenomyosis, chances are you’ll be well acquainted with having to stay home from work each month when you get your period. Low mood, crippling pain, super heavy periods and even issues with fertility can all be tied into endometriosis, and many women believe that nothing can be done about this once they’ve been diagnosed. 

We’d argue otherwise, and actually research has shown that nutrition and lifestyle alternations can help (1). 

Here are 5 ways:

Vitamin D and Endometriosis 

May help to reduce endometriosis lesions and therefore control pain. Also essential for hormone balance, fertility and immunity, as well as for reducing inflammation which is often an issue with endo/adenomyosis. Vitamin D has been found to be lower in those with the condition so get your levels checked! 

Equi’s Formula range (Original, Beauty and Lean) all contain 400iu vitamin D3 (a far superior form than D2) whilst Pregnancy Formula and Immunity Edition contain 1000iu per daily dose, so you don’t need to take extra on top, unless you have a requirement. Our Formula range of supplements also contain vitamin K2 and vitamin A to help activate vitamin D in the body.

To learn more about what your vitamins D needs may be, click this link here. 

Toxins and Endometriosis 

Dioxins, BPA, phlalates are just some in a long list of potential hormone disrupting chemicals that can be found in feminine hygiene products, as well as our cosmetics, plastic water bottles/tupperwares etc. More research is needed here but it’s a good idea to aim to reduce plastics in your day to day life. 

Coffee cups/lids, microwavable tupperware/ready meals, clingfilm, plastic bottles. Also look for beauty brands that make a promise to reduce chemicals (more on this here). Also go for chemical free feminine hygiene products.  

Magnesium for Pain

Did you know that women can use up to half of their magnesium during menstruation? Or that when we lift weights/exercise, get stressed or don’t sleep well, our requirements for magnesium increase? Magnesium is needed to help keep our nervous system calm by boosting parasympathetic messages, relax our muscles, reduce pain, improve sleep and support hormone balance. 

Green leafy veggies, grains, nuts, beans, banana, oats, raw cacao, epsom salt baths and magnesium glycinate supplements (added into all Equi London Formulas). 

Gut Health and Endometriosis 

Of course we had to mention this because like every other system in the body, our hormones our reliant on good gut health. Why? Because they help us to remove detoxified, ‘used’ hormones from the body. If this doesn’t happen we can find that hormones are re-absorbed into the body where they can create imbalances. A healthy microbiome discourages this and it also helps keep the gut moving daily,  which is essential because constipation can prevent the body removing waste often enough. 

Eat fibre at each meal - wholegrain, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes and try to include a portion of fermented foods each day such as kefir, raw kimchi, sauerkraut or kombucha.

Probiotics can also help here which is why we add gut boosting vegan strains Lactobacillus sporogenes & Bifidobacteria into all Equi London Formulas and our Immunity Edition. 

Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Endometriosis 

Not only does this help with inflammation in the body, which can be a problem in with endo/adeno, but also it contains more nutrients - vitamins, minerals and photo-chemicals that help support our hormone balance, liver and immune system. 

This comes down to eating a more Mediterranean style diet based on colourful veggies, grains, fish/seafood eggs, herbs and spices, healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, oily fish, nuts) legumes with modest meat, whilst reducing reliance on processed meats, refined white carbs, deep fried foods and sugary snacks. Limiting alcohol to 14 units/week also helps with inflammation and gut health. 

References:

1. Sesti F, Pietropolli A, Capozzolo T, Broccoli P, Pierangeli S, Bollea MR, Piccione E. Hormonal suppression treatment or dietary therapy versus placebo in the control of painful symptoms after conservative surgery for endometriosis stage III-IV. A randomized comparative trial. Fertil Steril. 2007 Dec;88(6):1541-7.