There is a great connection between endometriosis and the vegan diet . The treatment of endometriosis must take into account the relief of symptoms as well as the underlying causes. In this case, the balance of the hormones progesterone and estrogen must be done.
The treatment should aim to reduce or increase these hormones in the body and to do so, dietary changes must be considered. There are certain dietary changes that if made can improve your endometriosis significantly.
Both the vegan diet and the endometriosis diet recommend eliminating red meat and dairy which are great contributors of inflammation in your body. This includes the endometrium as its inflammation results in abdominal pain.
A vegan diet is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes dairy products, eggs, meat and any other animal derived ingredients. This also includes foods processed using animal products as well.
Most vegans will also avoid products that have been tested on animals or non-food products that are derived from animals including wool, fur and leather, however this is not a requirement with the endometriosis diet .
The vegan diet includes all beans, legumes, fruits, grains and vegetables as well as all the foods you can create by combining them. There are also vegan versions of foods such as ice cream, vegan mayonnaise, cheese and hot dogs.
There are many similarities between both diets . The good news is that you can use recipes from the vegan diet as well as recipes from the endometriosis diet as they follow very similar principals.
The foods encouraged for both diets include fresh and organic fruits and vegetables. These will benefit you in various ways. Foods such as artichokes, kale, cauliflower, beets and broccoli work by supporting the work of the liver.
The liver's work is to break down estrogen in the body. If it does not work properly, then it is unable to eliminate estrogen causing a build up of it, which makes endometriosis worse. Additionally fiber which will come from the fruits and vegetables consumed, allows your body to excrete excess estrogen through the digestive system and reduce the recirculation of hormones in the body. Not only that, if you suffer from constipation, then fiber will help process your food a lot faster.
Following a diet plan like this produces less estrogen circulating within the body which reduces the symptoms of endometriosis as well as the chances of developing it for those who are not current sufferers.
Although a vegetarian diet will reduce endometriosis signs and symptoms, an important meat that can help is cold water fish caught in the wild such as salmon. This is because it contains essential omega 3 fatty acids that when added to the your diet can reduce inflammation.
When deciding to go on an endometriosis and vegan diet it is important to consider that dairy is not necessarily helpful to your condition. A good example is with yogurt, where cows are given hormones to keep them lactating even when they are not pregnant.
These hormones are passed on to you when you eat dairy products like yogurt, milk or cheese, creating an imbalance in your own hormones. Additionally, yogurt that is commercially made has gelatin that comes from the by-products of animals such as the hooves.
It is therefore better that your diet has foods like kale which has 70% of the amount of calcium found in milk, rather than dairy products. Other sources of non animal calcium include raw sesame and even molasses.
Another advantage of the endometriosis and vegan diet is that you avoid the antibiotics used in commercial livestock production. These are found in the production of poultry, pork, lamb and beef.
The antibiotics are given to the animals to protect against disease or as immunization. However, they are not all passed out of the body but remain in the meat and especially fat of the animal. This means that you consume these when you eat meat. According to studies done, these products lower our immunity against cancer and other diseases as well.
Overall there is a lot you can do to get rid of your endometriosis symptoms and diet can account for up to 70% of the changes in your body. A diet that follows the principles of the endometriosis diet and vegan diet is one of the best ways to go to improve your health all round.
