Why are anti-inflammatory foods important for women with endometriosis?
Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease, We don’t want to further irritate or inflame it with inflammatory food. Sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet helps reduce the inflammation in your body that is caused by endometriosis.
Inflammation may cause pain and bloating. they don’t know for sure what causes endo belly (bloating) but they believe it could be due to higher sensitivity in regard to how the gut processes things, causing the intestines to work overtime.
Healing the gut is very important to decreasing inflammation. Leaky gut allows undigested food to enter the body, the body reacts to this as a foreign object and tries to remove it. This causes inflammation in the body. Eating anti-inflammatory food while you are healing the gut is very important in order to keep your bodies immune system focused on healing the gut rather then fighting inflammation in the body.
What types of food are anti-inflammatory?
There are so many anti-inflammatory foods to choose from, this makes it easy to find something you like. It is however important, like with any food, to get a variety of anti-inflammatory food in your diet.
GINGER
One of my favorite anti-inflammatory foods are GINGER! It has a strong flavor and I love to make tea with it. Its important to try to get anti-inflammatory food in your diet every day. I drink ginger raspberry leaf tea once a day (check out my blog on ginger raspberry leaf tea to learn more about why I drink this type of tea everyday).
GARLIC
If you are not a fan of ginger there are so many more anti-inflammatory foods you can eat, garlic is a great food to add to meals, adding minced garlic to hot oil in a pan before you add anything else to the pan is a great way to get a flavorful meal (add food to pan when garlic becomes aromatic.) I also love pickled garlic, I add it to the pickled vegetables I make.
TURMERIC
A great anti-inflammatory root for endometriosis is turmeric, turmeric can easily be added to food in spice form. It is great in soups, Indian dishes (curries), added to quinoa water, and in smoothies. Turmeric is known to help fight endometriosis. An ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, slows the growth of endometrial cells, and can even reduce the size and number of endometrial lesions.
Other anti-inflammatory food includes: berries, fatty fish (also have omega-3), broccoli, avocado, mushrooms, and dark chocolate or cocoa.
Supplementing for inflammation:
there are many ways to supplement anti-inflammatory food if you feel like you are not getting enough in your diet. There are garlic and turmeric capsules, or you can make your own. Fish oils are great anti-inflammatories and are also important for endometriosis because they provide omega-3s as well.
I supplement along with my diet because it is very hard to get all the nutrients you need in your food. It is especially hard when you have endometriosis because you have a greater lacking in certain nutrients then people without endometriosis. Just remember when supplementing, it is very important to pair it with a healthy diet. Supplementing can only help so much on its own. If you would like to learn more about supplementing and the supplements I take for endometriosis, check out my blog on supplementing [add link to blog] or click here to get the exact list of what I use and why.
Here are two great anti-inflammatory recipes:
Anti-inflammatory smoothie
Ingredients:
3 tbsp hemp protein powder
2 inch piece of ginger
2 cups of kale
2 sticks of celery
1 cup of mixed frozen berries (choose your favorite)
Instructions:
- Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth (or desired texture)
- Serve immediately
Anti-inflammatory coconut curry
Ingredients:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 small onion diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 tbsp of fresh grated ginger
½ cup broccoli florets
½ cup carrots diced
¼ cup tomatoes diced
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 pinch of cayenne
2 14-oz cans of coconut milk
1 cup of veggie broth
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Heat a larger pan to medium heat and add coconut oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, broccoli, and salt and pepper and stir. Cook while stirring frequently until soft about 5 minutes.
- Add curry powder, turmeric, cayenne, veggie stock, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat slightly and continue cooking for 10-15 min.
- Add the tomatoes in the last 5 minutes
- Serve over quinoa, rice, lentils, potatoes, or anything you would like it on.
sources
