All through my clinical experience, I’ve had more than a handful of patients coming to my clinic with endometriosis. The troubling part is that the number of patients with this diagnosis is increasing in number. But WHY?
As a patient with Lupus, it was not until recently that I learned that the female hormone dysfunction can have such a profound effect on the immune system. I researched and found that there is solid clinical evidence to suggest that the actual metabolites from xenoestrogen (which are from conventional animal foods such as chicken, beef, pork, milk, cheese, anything not organic) can actually plant itself in our bodies. Even worse, it is tough eliminating them. Xenoestrogens are stored in our fat cells and play a role in disrupting our normal metabolic cycle of all our foods, enzymes, and hormones. This explains the weight gain seen around the middle due to estrogen dominance.
If you are having severe pain and bleeding with endometriosis and are considering surgery, I highly suggest that you try the following. Even if you surgically remove the tissue, toxic xenoestrogen still remain. I say this because time and time again, the surgical intervention only helps temporarily. I found that many of my patients have to go back for surgery multiple times and live in tremendous pain while dealing with the compounding issue of scar tissue in their abdominal cavity. This topic is another blog all together so I will just stop here for now.
Consider the following from the Journal of Functional Medicine:
Summary of Ways to Reduce Patient Estrogenic Influences
- Consider Testing
- Examine functional detoxification testing
- Examine simple urine or blood tests to assess both baseline and post-intervention estrogen metabolism profiles for high risk patients.
2. Improve estrogen elimination
- Exercise
- Eat foods that enhance detoxification (artichoke, broc-coli, green tea, garlic, pomegranate, shallots, and watercress, as well as adequate protein intake)13 Take supplements (flax seed and other omega 3 essential fatty acid sources,10 cruciferous vegetables con- taining indole-3-carbinol,11 probiotics,12 and calcium-d-glucarate12)
3. Decrease estrogen intake
- Eat meat/dairy and poultry/eggs from organic, hor- mone-free, pasture-fed animals
- Avoid hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- Avoid environmental and food-related toxins that are carcinogenic
- Eat organic
- Drink spring or filtered water
- Use an organic shopping list to find out about the most important produce to buy organic (See http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf )
3. Improve gut health to decrease estrogen levels
- Decrease beta-glucuronidase by eating a plant-based diet and taking appropriate supplements (eg, probiot- ics and calcium-d-glucarate12)
- Eliminate constipation and ensure regular bowel movements by consuming flax (it also decreases estro- gen levels)20
4. Maintain proper body weight
- Reduce visceral adipose tissue (via diet and exercise, not liposuction)
5. Maintain proper blood sugar and insulin levels
- Eat a low-glycemic-index diet
- Eat a diet high in fiber
- Consume foods high in carbs in combination with protein
6. Reduce inflammation
- Eat a highly pescatarian diet
- Maintain an ideal body weight
- Improve oral health
- Treat nagging injuries
- Normalize highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels with fish oil and other anti-inflammatory supplements, if necessary (eg, bromelain, curcumin, quercetin)14 Do not eat animals raised or slaughtered under stressful conditions
- Reduce stress and resolve as many conflicts as possible (they are pro-inflammatory). If you like this post please visit alkaline program.com for more.