Festive Special Series - Seven Foods to Alleviate Oestrogen Dominance with Endometriosis

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are not about telling you to be a saint. Instead, they’re about practices you can throw in that can just help lessen some of the impact. I am releasing a couple so you can choose strategies you think will help you most and so you have options, but you certainly don’t have to try them all! And whilst I’m here, if you find that you want to learn more about how to eat for endo and for hormone balance, or you get to the end of the festive period and you really just want to improve your systems, I now have my Nutrition for Endo Masterclasses, which are available to buy all year round, unlike my courses. Lucky for you, they’re still discounted because I haven’t had time to change the prices, so you can still get each masterclass for £29.99 or you can buy the bundle for £50. You could also ask for them as a Christmas present! Finally, thank you for listening to this podcast this year, and for sticking with me even with my sporadic release dates as I navigate all of these new courses and offerings with recording my free content. I am wishing you a wonderful festive break (if you celebrate) and a very happy New Year. So, without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode. I really hope it helps you manage some of your symptoms over this festive period. Seven Foods to Alleviate Oestrogen Dominance with Endometriosis If you’ve listened to my podcast recently, you’ve likely heard a lot about oestrogen dominance or excess oestrogen and the problems these two imbalances can bring. Oestrogen in itself isn’t a ‘bad’ hormone - it’s a wonderful hormone that plays a crucial role in our menstrual cycle and our overall health. But too much or too high in relation to progesterone is where the problems arise, and these problems can make our experience of endo worse. So what is oestrogen dominance? Oestrogen dominance occurs when the ratio of oestrogen to progesterone is too high, this can happen when progesterone is low, oestrogen is high or both! Excess oestrogen is when there is too much oestrogen circulating the body, and this would be likely cause oestrogen dominance, providing of course that progesterone isn’t also too high (which in my experience with clients at least, is generally less common). Why does oestrogen dominance occur? We deep dive into this topic in other interviews and episodes (so check the links below), but to give you an overview, here are some of the common causes: Stress Imbalanced blood sugar Gut health issues Deficiencies, such as zinc Heavy alcohol consumption Overburdened liver Xenoestrogens Whilst taking a holistic approach looking at all of these areas is advisable, eating certain foods can help your body to remove any old or excess oestrogen and adding these foods in can be a great way to get started with healing any imbalances. Here are seven of my favourite foods for alleviating oestrogen dominance with endometriosis: Dandelion root tea or coffee to help support the liver with clearing out old and excess oestrogen. Be careful that you’re not buying a caffeinated dandelion and coffee blend - we’re looking for dandelion alone. You can drink it as a herbal tea or buy it roasted, then grind and have as coffee! It makes a lovely black coffee or latte. Broccoli sprouts provide a big, concentrated dose of SGS (sulforaphane glucosinolate) , a plant compound that also helps the liver to detoxify oestrogen and break it down in a healthy way Cruciferous vegetables such as kale, broccoli, cabbage and Brussel sprouts aid oestrogen detoxification. The active compound in cruciferous veggies is a nutrient called I3C (indole-3-cabinol), which further breaks down into SGS (sulforaphane glucosinolate) and DIM (diindolymethane) and both play a big role in supporting the liver with oestrogen detoxification. In fact, these nutrients are so powerful that you may recognise them - they’re often found in oestrogen clearance supplements! Probiotic foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and yoghurt help create a healthy gut microbiome and ensure that the bacteria which helps to eliminate oestrogen, the estrobolome, is well supported and that beta-glucuronidase, the enzyme that reactivates oestrogen (causing it to be reabsorbed into the blood stream), is prevented from getting too high. A caveat here is that if you have SIBO you may find probiotic foods aggravating. I would start slowly with one tablespoon and increase to tolerance over time. B6 foods such turkey, fish, seeds, nuts like pistachios, lentils, eggs, and a moderate amount of organic pasture-raised red meat helps to detoxify old and excess oestrogen and raise progesterone levels. Lignans from nuts and seeds, particularly pumpkin, sunflower, sesame and potentially flax (if you respond well to it) help bind and remove oestrogen. Flax can have weak oestrogenic effects, and is often recommended to help lower oestrogen dominance symptoms . However, I recommend being mindful here as I am not the only practitioner to have witnessed endo symptoms and oestrogen dominance symptoms worsening from flax, so I would just see how you personally respond. Having said that, lots of doctors, nutritionists and health coaches see an improvement, but just have an awareness when you try and if you try flax. Hopefully it works well for you!   Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My new Nutrition for Endo Masterclasses are out now and are on special offer for Black Friday. Get one masterclass for £29.99 (full price £40) or both for £50. Find out more here. My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast is out now! Get 28 anti-inflammatory, hormone friendly recipes for living and thriving with endometriosis. Order your copy here. If you feel like you need more support with managing endometriosis, you can join Your EndoLife Coaching Programme. A 1-to-1 three month health and life coaching programme to help you thrive with endometriosis. To find out more about the programme and to discuss whether it could be right for you, email me at [email protected] or visit my website. This episode is sponsored by The Pod Farm. Learn all about how to start your own podcast with the complete course from The Pod Farm. Aimed at beginners, this course takes a simple and straightforward approach to planning, equipment buying, setting up, recording, editing and hosting your own podcast. With hours of audio and video materials, and downloadable guides and useful links, this multimedia approach aims to have something for every kind of learner. From now until April 15, newsletter subscribers get 20% off the course price. Visit www.thepodfarm.com to enroll or find out more This episode is sponsored by BeYou. Soothe period cramps the natural way with these 100% natural and discreet menthol and eucalyptus oil stick on patches and CBD range. Click here to find out more and to shop: https://beyouonline.co.uk This episode is sponsored by Semaine. Try their supplement for period pain and daily supplement for hormonal balance and PMS prevention with code ENDOLIFE to get 20% off your first order. Show Notes SIBO episodes Ep 99 with Dr Allison Siebecker Ep 97 My SIBO treatment plan Oestrogen dominance episodes Ep 104 Blood Sugar episodes Ep 88 Ep 81 Ep 66 Ep 55 Broccoli sprouts and cruciferous veg  Magdalena Wszelaki broccoli sprouts Changes in levels of urinary estrogen metabolites after oral indole-3-carbinol treatment in humans Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) and its Major Derivatives: Their Pharmacokinetics and Important Roles in Hepatic Protection Estrobolome Alisa Vitti Histamine The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan B6 The Interactions between Vitamin B6 and Hormones Nutritional factors in the etiology of the premenstrual tension syndromes Dr Jolene Brighten B6 Lignans Dr Joelene Brighten on seed cycling and flax Lara Briden explains phytoestrogens