Christina Najjar

My Endometriosis Journey and the Underdiagnosis of Menstrual Issues

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We need to talk about something serious. And I’m not asking you to converse with me about your humourless uncle. No, I’m referring specifically to the underdiagnosis of menstrual issues like PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and endometriosis.

According to the Endometriosis Network Canada, it is estimated that 1 in 10 women has endometriosis. The prevalence of PCOS cases is roughly the same, as well. And yet, when we complain of severe menstrual pain, we’re told that we have PMS or dysmenorrhea, and that we should be taking the birth control pill.

This issue is very personal to me. I am one of the 1 in 10.

My Endometriosis Journey and the Underdiagnosis of Menstrual Issues

My endometriosis journey

The teenage years

The first few years of my period presented with the expected mood swings a teenager would experience, and “average” cramps (though it should be noted that average does NOT mean healthy). But a few years in, something started to go seriously wrong. When my period came around, I found myself curled up in pain on the bathroom floor, ready to vomit.

Visits to the doctor informed me that it was “just PMS”. I was prescribed a high dose of painkillers. And I continued to take them until I had built a tolerance, and found that they no longer had an effect on me. I was then told to take the birth control pill to “fix” my symptoms. When I eventually did start taking hormonal birth control, all seemed to be better.

If you’re in my Nutrition for PMS, PCOS & Endometriosis group on Facebook, or if you’ve read some of my previous posts, you already know that I’m not a fan of what birth control can do to the body. Research shows a correlation between some types of oral contraceptives used mainly for PMS symptom management (such as YAZ and Yasmine) and IBS.

The digestive issues and adrenal fatigue

Of course, I did develop IBS. I even had an acute bout of colitis and discovered a bunch of food sensitivities. Did you know that digestive problems worsen menstrual issues? And the birth control that was supposed to help my PMS was worsening my digestion. It’s a vicious cycle!

In my early twenties, I finally came off of hormonal contraceptives after 5-6 years of use. My digestive issues did improve a bit. However, it quickly became clear that the birth control had only been a band-aid solution for my menstrual issues.

Under the recommendations of my Naturopathic Doctor, I made lots of changes to my health. These changes showed varying degrees of improvement on my PMS symptoms. They did, however, help my digestion.

In nutrition school, I learned a wealth of information that I could directly apply to my health. I was in heaven. Once again, my period was manageable. But again, “manageable” doesn’t mean healthy.

After I graduated from nutrition school came the challenge of starting my nutrition practice. Let me say that starting a business is not a stress-free endeavour! The stress of doing two consecutive degrees and running a business pushed me over the edge to stage 3 adrenal fatigue.

The thing with adrenal fatigue is that it messes with the body’s hormones. Many hormones are produced in the adrenal glands, including sex hormones. And when one sex hormone is off, it can easily throw off the balance of the other sex hormones.

It was like I had been transported back 10 years. The pain came back in full force. Once again, I was curling up on the bathroom floor on the worst days of my period. I was unable to be mentally present during social gatherings because I was busy willing the pain to go away.

Testing for menstrual issues

Because my mother has PCOS, I pushed hard to get an ultrasound and some hormone tests done. But when those tests showed no PCOS, I was told it was only dysmenorrhea. As a healthcare professional who works mainly with menstrual issues, I knew that something had to be wrong for my body to react that way. But had I been a layperson, I would have accepted that explanation and continued suffering.

Once I found out I didn’t have PCOS, I continued to try to figure out what could be wrong with my body. My symptoms were suggesting endometriosis. But endometriosis is a condition which is a bit tricky to diagnose because it doesn’t show up on blood tests or most ultrasounds. It requires a laparoscopy, which involves filling the abdomen with air, and inserting a camera through an incision near the navel.

Diagnosis or not, I want this issue taken care of as soon as possible. I am currently on an anti-inflammatory diet, I started acupuncture a few weeks ago, and now I’m looking into also doing pelvic floor physiotherapy.

Last week, I finally went in for my physical. I brought up my concerns with my menstrual issues. As someone who doesn’t automatically choose conventional medical interventions, my concerns don’t always get taken as seriously. My doctor told me that since I am not looking to conceive in the next 6 months and I don’t plan on going back on hormonal birth control, there’s no point in looking further into my menstrual issues. But upon doing the actual physical portion of the appointment, she was convinced.

An optimistic future

I received a referral for a gynecologist so that we can discuss my options. Endometriosis is one of those conditions that, when left untreated, can get worse. But I am choosing alternative treatments that focus on bringing balance back into my body, rather than simply dealing with the symptoms. Bringing balance back into my body will also reduce my chances of having ovarian cancer, since endometriosis puts women at a higher risk.

After struggling for 13 years, I’m finally starting to get answers. Sadly, this is not out of the norm. In Canada, it takes an average of 7 to 9 years of complaining of symptoms to get a diagnosis.

Will I be able to reverse my endometriosis? Who knows! But I certainly won’t give up until I do. And not only will I fight for my own health, but I also plan to help as many women as I can along the way.

Do you struggle with menstrual issues? Click the button below to join the FREE Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis group on Facebook.
Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis

7 Ways to Reduce Your Exposure to Hormone Disruptors

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In last week’s post, I talked about how we’re surrounded by hormone disruptors called xenoestrogens. These hormone disruptors can be your worst enemy if you struggle with PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, or infertility.

Main sources of xenoestrogens include plastic, pesticides, and parabens (preservatives for cosmetics and household products). Thankfully, there are all kinds of things you can do to reduce your exposure to these hormone disruptors.

7 Ways to Reduce Your Exposure to Hormone Disruptors (Xenoestrogens)

7 Ways to Reduce Your Exposure to Hormone Disruptors

Switch to glass

Are you drinking out of plastic bottles, or storing your food in plastic containers? The softer the plastic, the more it leaches into your food and water. Consider using mason jars. They’re great storage for soups, curries and stews. They can also double as a water bottle, so no need to buy a fancy bottle!

For more solid foods, consider getting glass storage containers that can also double as oven cookware. If glass is too heavy for your needs, try stainless steel containers.

Use cloth produce bags

How many produce bags do you use per grocery trip? As your produce sits in these bags, it picks up some of the unwanted particles in the plastic. Try bringing your own cloth or mesh bags to the grocery store. As an added bonus, it’s also more environmentally friendly.

Buy organic

Pesticides are one of the worst offenders, when it comes to hormone disruptors. The best way to avoid or reduce pesticides is to buy organic. But when that fails, refer to the EWG’s Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen to decide on which produce you can safely eat conventional, and where you really should invest in organic.

Make your own hair products

Think of all the products you use on your skin and scalp. Between shampoos, conditioners, soaps, hair gels, deodorants, facial cleansers, moisturisers, night creams… Without even discussing makeup, you may already be using a wide variety of products that are less than friendly to your hormones.

The good news is that most hair products can be made quite easily with natural ingredients you just may already have in your home. Try recipes for flax hair gel, facial cleanser, or shampoo. If you want to make your hair care routine easier, you can also try the baking soda and apple cider vinegar method.

Switch to cleaner makeup

Most people know that clean makeup brands exist. The challenge is figuring out which brands of natural makeup actually make products you’ll want to use. There’s no way I’m going to walk around looking like a raccoon because my natural mascara can’t stay on all day.

Some of my favourite brands include Pacifica, Mineral Fusion, and Earth’s Beauty. And trust me, I’ve tried A LOT of different brands of natural makeup.

Clean with vinegar and essential oils

Rather than spending lots of money on cleaning products that are completely loaded with hormone disruptors, you can easily make your own for much cheaper.

All you need is water, white vinegar, and essential oils. Using these three ingredients in different concentrations, you can make cleaners for most surfaces.

Drink clean water

Did you know that tap water only filters out certain contaminants? Several thousands of contaminants could potentially be in the water. The City of Ottawa (where I live) only checks for 300 contaminants.

While some decent filters like Mavea and Santevia exist, they still don’t manage to filter out all contaminants. And don’t waste your money on a Brita filter, because it doesn’t do much that your city’s filtration system doesn’t already do. That is, if you live somewhere where the water is safe to drink.

To ensure that you have access to really clean water, consider installing a reverse osmosis filter in your home or choosing distilled water. However, make sure that you’re remineralizing that water, or you may end up with mineral deficiencies.

Disclaimer: The provided links may be affiliate links. Opinions are all my own. Any money received through these links will go back into this website to support the hours of work that go into weekly posts. Thank you for your support.

How do you reduce your exposure to hormone disruptors? Tell us in the comments!

Xenoestrogens: Hormone Disruptors That Worsen Your PMS

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When dealing with hormonal issues like PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, or infertility, it’s normal to feel like your hormones will never be normal again. In fact, regulating hormones now is harder than ever (speaking from experience). We are constantly surrounded by hormone disruptors called xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens: hormone disruptors that worsen your PMS

Xenoestrogens are molecules that look like estrogen to our bodies and our cells. Some of these affect our bodies by stimulating the production of more estrogen. Other types of these hormone disruptors pretend to be the estrogen produced by the body.

In simpler terms, they can worsen conditions with PMS symptoms.

How exactly, you ask? PMS and other related conditions becomes worse as a result of high levels of estrogen, or too much estrogen in relation to progesterone (called estrogen dominance).

Sources of xenoestrogens

These far too common hormone disruptors can be grouped into 3 main categories: plastics, parabens, and pesticides. The 3 P’s make it easy to remember! However, keep in mind that this isn’t a complete list of xenoestrogens.

Sources of xenoestrogens (common hormone disruptors)

Plastics

Look around your house right now. How much plastic do you see? It’s in food storage containers, the lining of food cans, water bottles, cosmetic bottles, the bags for your produce… Grocery store meats and many vegetables are pre-packaged in plastic. The softer the plastic, the more of these hormone disruptors you’re picking up (I’m looking at you, saran wrap!).

BPA has been the focus of many studies, linking it back to cancer, hormonal and reproductive issues in males and females, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and the list goes on. As a result, many companies have started producing items made of BPA-free plastics. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but these plastics aren’t any better, unfortunately.

Parabens

Next, think about the products you use on your skin and around the house. Look at your soaps, shampoos, makeup, face creams, bathroom cleaners, window cleaners, and so on. Unless you’re buying really clean brands or making these from scratch, you’re likely exposing yourself to parabens. These are preservatives for the products that are being absorbed into your body from your skin.

Some parabens can be recognized on ingredient lists because they end in -paraben. However, there are variations that make it harder to recognize. If you’re unsure of how clean your products are, check out the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database.

Pesticides

Finally, we have pesticides. You probably know that if you eat conventional fruits and vegetables, you’re ingesting all kinds of pesticides. You can find out which vegetables and fruits are the most contaminated by having a look at the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list.

Most people know that they can reduce their pesticide intake by buying organic produce. But did you know that tap water is also loaded with pesticides? Distilled water and reverse osmosis are the two safest ways to avoid hormone disruptors in water. However, ensure that the water you drink has been remineralized.

How do you avoid xenoestrogens? Tell us in the comments!

7 Foods to Include in Your New Year Cleanse

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With motivation being renewed in January, many people decide to exercise, lose weight, or do a cleanse. For those suffering from PMS, PCOS, digestive issues, and other health concerns, it often seems like the perfect time.

While cleanses should be conducted in the spring and the fall, sometimes right away is better. After all the junk food that tends to be consumed over the holidays, it may feel nice to reset the system.

I’m not a big supporter of most boxed cleanses since many of them are too harsh. Others depend on strong laxatives to flush the bowels without supporting the body overall. I’m a fan of using whole foods, (i.e. unprocessed foods) to regain health. Read on to learn which foods to include in your cleanse.

7 Foods to Include in Your New Year Cleanse

7 foods to include in your new year cleanse

1. Beets

Beets contain phytonutrients that help support the liver. They help digestion, and support the gallbladder and the kidneys. When we think of detoxification, we often think of the liver. The kidneys are an extremely important piece of the puzzle, however.

The role of the liver is to turn fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble toxins. Once the liver has done its job “modifying” a toxin, this toxin still needs to come out of the body. The kidneys then need to ensure that the toxin is escorted out of the body.

Try this recipe for grain-free beet hummus from Chocolate and Zucchini.

2. Parsley

Parsley is a diuretic, which means that it helps you pee. As we mentioned, it’s important to pass toxins out of the body once they’ve gone through the liver. It is also a mild laxative – key word being “mild”. Strong laxatives are a bad idea because they teach your bowels to stop moving on their own.

An occasional mild laxative while cleansing, on the other hand, helps ensure that more toxins are being moved out of the body. When toxins sit in the digestive tract for too long, they can be reabsorbed into the body.

Try the classic Middle Eastern tabbouleh (recipe from David Lebovitz) to get more parsley. You may want to consider using quinoa instead of bulgur, or eliminating the grain altogether.

3. Turnips

Turnips are so underrated when it comes to cleansing. They help reduce mucus in the body. Mucus tends to accumulate in the body as a protective mechanism. For instance, when something keeps hurting the intestinal lining over and over, mucus builds up to stop the injury. However, this gets in the way of proper nutrient absorption.

Turnips are also an awesome food for detoxifying excess estrogen in the body. This is especially important in the case of conditions like PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, and infertility.

Did you know you can make fries out of turnips? Turnips and rutabagas are practically interchangeable in this recipe for Baked & Spicy Oregano Rutabaga Fries on Be The Happy Soul.

4. Dandelion root

Dandelion root helps increase the flow of bile. When you eat fats, bile emulsifies them. Kind of like soap, it surrounds the fat molecules. This allows the body to better digest fats. It is also a mild laxative.

I consume my dandelion root in the form of tea. Traditional Medicinals makes a great tea using roasted dandelion root. This gives it a flavour similar to coffee.

5. Garlic

There is a lot to be said about garlic, but I’ll keep it short and sweet. Garlic helps kill unwanted beasties in the gut, like bad bacteria, and excess yeast. The best part is that it does so without killing off the good stuff, unlike most antimicrobials.

Garlic is high in sulphur, which makes it a great heavy metal chelator. This means that it attaches to the heavy metals, which is a necessary step to remove them from the body.

Enjoy garlic in my Zucchini Con Aglio et Olio (zucchini with garlic and oil) recipe.

6. Arugula

The Standard American Diet is very acidic to the body. The body has mechanisms to balance out occasional consumption of acid-forming foods. However, when it becomes a frequent thing, the body struggles to keep up, and chronic disease settles in more easily. Arugula is a powerful alkalizer, making it a helpful addition to a cleanse.

You can eat arugula in salads, or try it in this variation of pesto from Paleo Grubs.

7. Radishes

Radishes also help support the liver and the gallbladder, while being a diuretic. Just like turnips, radishes help break down mucus. This makes it a cleanse goldmine! The fun thing about radishes is that they come in many varieties. This means that you can get the benefits from eating them straight, adding them to soups, salads, or even roasting them.

My 4-Ingredient Beet Radish Salad kills two birds with one stone (is there a less gruesome expression) by combining both beets and radishes.

All About PCOS: Testing, Root Causes, and Management

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You may have noticed that on this website, I gear many posts toward PMS and PCOS. I recently realized I had never really talked about these issues on their own. While most of the menstruating population is familiar with PMS, PCOS or Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a bit of a lesser known issue.

The two syndromes are often grouped together because they tend to stem from the same roots. In fact, there is a big overlap of symptoms in the two conditions. For instance, acne, mood swings, and cramping are common in both. However, with PCOS, it’s not uncommon to see worse cramps, uncontrollable weight gain, hair growth on atypical places like the face or belly, missed periods, and infertility.

All About PCOS: testing, root causes, and management

Testing for PCOS

To be diagnosed with PCOS, you must present with at least two of these three characteristics:

1. High levels of androgens, the hormones that males typically produce in higher amounts than females (such as testosterone)
2. Irregular ovulation or lack of ovulation
3. Ovarian cysts

You may have noticed that this means that you can be diagnosed with a condition whose name implies ovarian cysts, without actually having cysts. This is because back in the day, as soon as doctors found ovarian cysts, the diagnosis was slapped on. And you can have ovarian cysts without having PCOS.

Unfortunately, some doctors still jump to a diagnosis as soon as they find cysts without further investigating. And conversely, if they don’t find cysts, some may decide that everything is normal.

Before anything can be determined, a hormonal panel should be carried out through a blood test or saliva test, and an ultrasound should be scheduled to look for ovarian cysts.

Root causes

PCOS can develop for many different reasons. While this is still under research, a few possible causes have already been determined.

Insulin resistance

You’ve probably heard of insulin before. It’s that hormone that tells your cells to take in sugar when there’s too much sugar in your blood. However, when insulin has to knock on the cell’s door day-in and day-out, the cell becomes desensitized to insulin. Your body responds by secreting more and more insulin so that your cells can continue to respond.

High levels of insulin actually send a message to your ovaries to produce more testosterone and stop ovulating normally. Those whose PCOS is rooted in insulin resistance tend to be the ones who experience uncontrollable weight gain, acne, and facial hair growth.

Inflammation

Chronic inflammation can also interfere with normal ovulation. Inflammation uses up a lot of your body’s resources. When there aren’t enough resources to go around, the body becomes choosy in how it spends those resources.

Because the reproductive system isn’t needed for immediate survival, it’s the first system to be cut. Your body especially doesn’t want to share limited resources with a second human life. Therefore, your body makes it difficult to conceive.

Hormonal birth control

When stopping birth control pill, many people notice that it takes several months for their period to come back. Others find that their period doesn’t start again on its own.

This happens because when taking synthetic hormones for years on end, your body “forgets” how to get your hormones back on track.

Hormone disruptors

Our environment is loaded with hormone disruptors. Tap water, plastics, cleaning products, and cosmetics all contain compounds that can mess with hormones. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that that’s bad for you.

As hormone levels become wonky, cysts can develop, and periods can become less and less frequent.

Odds are that those with PCOS don’t only have a single one of these factors. All of these factors can combine in different ways to create different types of PCOS. These different types all manifest themselves differently. This can make PCOS particularly difficult to identify in some cases.

Management of PCOS

Typical mainstream treatment of PCOS involves taking hormonal birth control to mask symptoms. However, these symptoms return when coming off the birth control. In fact, quite often, they are worse than before starting birth control methods.

In cases of insulin resistance, many doctors prescribe Metformin, a medication for Type 2 Diabetes.

An often overlooked component of PCOS management is diet. Diet impacts how our bodies produce hormones, and how we react to the hormones in our bodies. Additionally, in cases of insulin resistance, changing the diet can make a world of difference. And finally, while it may not be possible to fully eliminate hormone disruptors from your environment, your diet can affect how your body processes them.

While there is no one-size-fits all diet for PCOS, certain changes seem to show consistent results. Gluten, dairy, and sugar are the most inflammatory components of the Standard American Diet. By eliminating these 3 ingredients, your body is better equipped to do some repairs to reduce inflammation.

In order to keep blood sugar levels stable to reduce insulin resistance, it’s important to eat healthy fats and good quality protein with each meal. And finally, make sure to eat a generous portion of vegetables with every meal. Yes, even breakfast. You’ll find tips on including vegetables with breakfast here.

Do you struggle with menstrual issues? Click the button below to join the FREE Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis group on Facebook.
Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis

Menstrual Cups: The Pros and the Cons

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I’m sure you’ve heard the tampon horror stories by now. Toxic shock syndrome, carcinogenic bleach, and the list goes on. With more and more people turning to menstrual cups (such as the DivaCup), is it the right move for you?

Menstrual cups: The pros and the cons

The pros of menstrual cups

From an environmental perspective, menstrual cups are great, since they’re reusable. You don’t have to worry about filling landfills with all kinds of waste, between the sanitary products themselves, and the packaging for the products.

Another advantage of reusable cups is how friendly to the wallet they are. You can get one for about $40 in Canada. Conversely, a pack of 16 organic tampons runs for about $7. In the long run, you end up saving so much money by making the switch.

Tampons and pad can be a bit of a hassle when you’re on the go. They should be changed about every 4 hours, whereas your cup can stay in for up to 12 hours.

This brings us to the safety factor of the cups. Their Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) risk is much lower than it is for tampons. This advantage on its own is reason enough to switch over.

The cons of menstrual cups

While menstrual cups are great for a bazillion reasons, there are disadvantages associated with using them. For instance they can be a bit messy. If you spend more than 12 hours outside of the house, you may find it difficult to empty and clean your cup.

Some may be turned off when first using their menstrual cup because it may take some time to adjust. It took me a few months to learn how to insert mine properly. But now that I’m comfortable with it, I don’t think I would ever go back.

All in all, I recommend making the switch over to menstrual cups.

Do you use a menstrual cup? What’s your favourite thing about using it?

5 Tips for Healthier Holiday Parties

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This week, guest blogger Esther Avant provides great tips that can easily be applied for healthier holiday parties that you can still enjoy!

Making habit changes is tricky business under the best of circumstances. But the holiday season can make it especially difficult for you to consistently engage in the behaviors that you know are in your best interest. I’m here to help.

5 Tips for healthier holidays

Chew gum

Pop in a fresh piece right before you arrive at a party and right after you finish eating to prevent yourself from snacking from the minute you walk in til the second you walk out.

Wait until the buffet has been picked through

Hearty dishes are never more appealing than when they’ve yet to be violated by the serving spoon. Those crunchy and/or cheesy tops are enticing when they’re fresh but become a lot easier to resist once they’ve been picked through.

Keep visual evidence of what you’ve consumed

As someone who has spent years working in the service industry, I can tell you first-hand (and this is also backed up by research) that you eat and drink more when you clear away the evidence of what you’ve already had. For healthier holiday parties, keep reminders like empty bottles, wrappers, skewers, or bones to stay mindful of your intake.

Make your plate as colorful as possible

Commit to “taste the rainbow,” so that you have no choice but to go heavy on fruits and veggies. This will also cut down on the various-shades-of-brown dishes (casseroles, etc) that are likely higher in sugar and fat.

Wear a belt or form-fitting clothing

Dressing up will make you feel better and more confident. But additionally, wearing something less potato-sack-esque will help you avoid overeating. Resist the urge to wear your elastic “eating pants” from now until 2017.

Bonus mindset tip: Don’t fall prey to the all-or-nothing mentality

A few indulgences will not set you back. A minor slip-up is not an excuse to go completely off the rails for the rest of the day/week/month/year. It’s what you do consistently that makes the biggest impact so don’t throw in the towel after a misstep, just accept it, forgive yourself, and carry on.

If you found these tips useful, I’ve got a bunch more to share in my free Holiday Resource Bundle. Click the button below to access it.
Holiday Resource Bundle

Esther Avant shares tips for healthier holiday partiesEsther Avant is a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach. She works with women remotely through her company Esther Avant Wellness Coaching. She helps her clients lose weight, become healthier, happier, and more confident by making sustainable changes to their day-to-day lives!

Esther take a holistic approach with clients. She truly believes you can completely change your health by improving your nutrition and making the decision to live actively. Connect with Esther on Instagram and Facebook.

What are your tips for healthier holiday parties? Tell us in the comments!

7 Easy Ways to Eat More Healthy Fats

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Almost everyone would benefit from adding more healthy fats to their diet. This is especially true for those with conditions where blood sugar levels fluctuate a lot, such as PCOS and diabetes. Fats from healthy sources help slow down your body’s absorption of sugars in your food. They also help your cells better listen to your hormones.

Use the following tips to increase your intake of healthy fats. And don’t worry about possibly gaining weight. Healthy fats have too many functions in your body to simply be stored as fat for future energy (unlike unhealthy fats).

7 Easy ways to eat more healthy fats

Add nut butters to smoothies

Are you making smoothies for breakfast or after workouts? Use a chocolate protein powder and add a tablespoon of nut butter to make it nut butter cup flavoured. Alternatively, you can add a tablespoon of chia seeds, hemp hearts, or coconut oil to your smoothies to boost the fat content.

Put a dollop of coconut oil or sesame oil to your food

Planning to make a stir fry or steam some vegetables? Sauté or steam your dish with water, and add some coconut oil or sesame oil at the end for extra flavour. Waiting until the end to add the fats will keep them in their healthy form.

Include some avocado on your plate

Making a meal that just doesn’t require fat? Add some avocado slices to your plate as a side. Some vitamins can only be absorbed when consumed with fat. Because avocados can be expensive, all you need is 1/4 or 1/2 of an avocado.

Yolks have healthy fats!

Are you eating egg white omelettes to boost your protein while keeping cholesterol down? Eating more cholesterol won’t increase your cholesterol levels. Your body produces most of its cholesterol for hormones, and as a protective mechanism. Egg yolks not only have healthy fats, but they’re also incredibly nutrient dense.

Eat a handful of almonds

If you’re looking at your plate and see nothing but vegetables, lean protein, and/or grains, save a bit of room for a handful of almonds. You don’t need much – 10 almonds or so will do.

Take a fish oil

A good quality fish oil is a great supplement for most people. It’s an anti-inflammatory, it helps anxiety, depression concentration, diabetes, hormonal issues, and makes skin and hair healthier. It’s also a natural blood thinner, so it should be avoided if already taking blood thinners. If your meal is lacking healthy fats, take a teaspoon of fish oil with your meal.

Make a dip for vegetables

Are you eating vegetables without fats? As previously mentioned, some nutrients can only be absorbed into your body if eaten with fats. Make an easy dip for your vegetables by combining tahini with lemon, or make hummus or a curry dip.

Which strategies are you using to boost the healthy fat content of your meals?

You Absolutely Should Not Ignore Your PMS Symptoms

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When you spend a lot of time studying a subject, it’s easy to think that everyone knows what you know about that subject. I find PMS fascinating because you can learn a lot about a person’s health simply by looking at their PMS symptoms. I had forgotten that most of those who experience PMS simply see it as an inconvenience or a dreaded time of the month.

Why you shouldn't ignore PMS symptoms

In reality, PMS is so much more than a pain or an inconvenience. It’s actually a red flag for health. This is easy to forget because according to the latest estimates, as many as 85% of the menstruating population experiences PMS symptoms of some kind.

This figure is alarming, especially when you think of what PMS can indicate. But it should come as no surprise as the rates of infertility, cancer, and autoimmune diseases rise.

I’ve mentioned before how PMS is highly connected to adrenal fatigue and digestive issues. However, I feel that it’s important to talk about what happens if these two main roots of PMS aren’t addressed.

Adrenal fatigue to PMS to cancer?

Adrenal fatigue is what happens to your body when you’ve been stressed for too long. Your adrenal glands produce many hormones in your body, including your stress hormones and sexual hormones.

When you’re consistently stressed, your body spends a lot of resources on stress hormones, especially cortisol. After a while, your body has to start choosing between producing cortisol and other hormones, such as progesterone. When cortisol and progesterone have to compete, cortisol tends to come out on top.

But even then, adrenal glands eventually run out of resources to support cortisol production. When adrenal fatigue has fully set in, both progesterone and cortisol levels can be too low.

Low progesterone is often behind PMS symptoms like cramps and dark blood at the beginning and/or the end of your period.

So how does that tie in to cancer?

Our cells use our DNA as instructions for everyday protein synthesis. Sometimes, mistakes pop up in our DNA, and that’s completely normal. Usually, the body fixes these mistakes when we relax. But when we are in a constant state of stress, the body cannot fix these mistakes. Our cells end up reading instructions to produce cancerous cells, instead.

PMS itself is not the cause of cancer. PMS warns us that something is malfunctioning somewhere. Popping a painkiller when your cramps hit will not address the potential adrenal fatigue. And, if that adrenal fatigue is ignored, the long term stress could just be the beginning of a tumour.

PMS and autoimmune diseases

The organisms in our gut play a large role in our overall health. In a healthy individual, the friendly organisms should highly outnumber the unfriendly organisms. But when they don’t, the unhealthy guys can takeover and cause just about any health issue you can think of.

When the liver deactivates excess estrogen, it needs to pass through the bowels to leave the body. When there are a lot of unfriendly organisms in the gut, they intercept that estrogen and reactivate it to pass it through the body again.

This is an issue because estrogen needs to be balanced out by progesterone. When there is too much estrogen, or what is called an estrogen dominance, it’s as if progesterone levels were too low. And as you know, low progesterone can equate to PMS symptoms.

So where do autoimmune diseases come in?

The disproportion of good to bad organisms in the gut can have all kinds of repercussions. An excess in unfriendly organisms can make the existing pores in the gut lining larger than they should be. These large pores then begin to let large particles into the bloodstream. Because those particles don’t belong there, the immune system has to launch repeated attacks.

An immune system that keeps having to work overtime can become very tired. Usually, the immune system knows how to recognize the body’s cells as its own. But, as it becomes tired, it starts to make mistakes, and can attack the body’s cells. This is what is known as autoimmunity.

So once again, PMS is not the cause of the bigger issue, but shares a root cause with that issue. So, while PMS is a pain in the butt, it’s a fantastic indicator of what’s going on in the body!

PMS symptoms as a warning sign of infertility

Your body has a lot of mechanisms that are necessary for immediate survival. In fact, the only body system that isn’t absolutely necessary to keep you alive is your reproductive system. When your body can’t come up with enough resources to run all its processes, the reproductive system is usually the first to misbehave.

As mentioned above, PMS is often a symptom of other important imbalances in the body. These imbalances often result in hormonal levels that are less than optimal. Because the female reproductive cycle is very delicate, it doesn’t take much to turn conception into a challenge.

As I keep repeating (like a broken record!), low progesterone levels are responsible for many PMS symptoms. In order to conceive naturally, you need to ovulate. Ovulation happens when progesterone levels begin to rise. But if your body can’t produce sufficient progesterone, it may struggle to ovulate.

I hope I’m helping you understand why you absolutely should not ignore your PMS symptoms. PMS is not just a monthly inconvenience. It’s a nice and loud message from your body.

Do you struggle with menstrual issues? Click the button below to join the FREE Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis group on Facebook.
Nutrition for PMS, PCOS, and endometriosis

Why I (Mostly) Don’t Eat Grains and Legumes

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We’ve all heard of the Paleo Diet, the diet that avoids grains and legumes, that our ancestors supposedly ate. People love it because they have heard that it will help them lose weight. Whether that’s true depends on many factors. But, that’s not something I focus on, myself.

Sure, many of my clients want to lose weight, but they usually see me for help with their digestive issues like IBS and food sensitivities, or issues like PMS and PCOS. (As a side note, you can download your FREE PMS Survival Guide here.) Weight loss just kind of happens once their other issues are back on track.

Why I mostly stopped eating grains and beans

It turns out that avoiding foods like grains and legumes can help with more than just weight loss. Does that mean that you should go grain free and legume free? Well, not necessarily.

Why I mostly don’t eat grains and legumes

I found out in university that I had a ton of food sensitivities after stuffing myself with the typical student diet (ramen noodles, KD, etc). I ended up cutting out gluten, and went vegan. For months, I lived off of whole grains and legumes, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. I felt better than I did before, but still felt like crap.

A few years later, I went to nutrition school. As I learned new things about different foods and diets, I became my own guinea pig. I had a new diet every other month.

One of the things emphasized in nutrition school is the importance of eating a variety of whole foods (i.e. unrefined foods). Because whole grains and legumes have all kinds of nutrients, I was firmly against the idea of eliminating them from my diet.

However, over time, I started noticing that many of my digestive problems happened when I ate less meat. I would eat whole grains and legumes to cover my protein needs during those times. Let’s just say that I had unbearable acid reflux for hours, I looked 5 months pregnant, and everything came out of me in liquid form. I felt crappy (pun intended!).

Then, I decided to try the paleo diet briefly. To my surprise, my digestive issues completely disappeared. You have to understand that I’ve had digestive problems for as long as I can remember.

Are my digestive issues 100% better now? Nope. But that’s my own fault. When money gets tight, I’ve been known to eat gluten free grains. I also have a complete weakness for black bean and brown rice chips (that will remain unnamed), so I occasionally eat them when I’m pressed for time.

Why grains and legumes can be problematic

Grains and legumes can aggravate issues in those with IBS, autoimmune diseases, and conditions like food sensitivity induced PMS.

Grains are difficult to digest because they have a coating called phytic acid that prevents them from sprouting until they are in ideal conditions to sprout. This coating happens to block the absorption of many nutrients.

Additionally, grains contain a type of carbohydrate that is difficult to digest for those with digestive issues. To make matters worse, they affect the production of enzymes needed to break down your food. As a result, you end up feeding the unfriendly bacteria in your gut, as they digest your food for you.

Legumes (and some grains) contain lectins, which are a plant’s defence mechanism against other organisms that may want to eat them. Since we can’t digest lectins, the immune system launches an attack on them when it sees them. With repeated attacks, the immune system becomes tired.

You know how when you’re tired at work, you make more mistakes? So does your immune system. A burdened immune system may start attacking its own cells, resulting in autoimmune diseases.

Some of these issues can be minimized by soaking and sprouting grains and legumes. However, no amount of soaking or sprouting will entirely eliminate the accompanying problems.

Should you follow the paleo diet?

Just because avoiding grains and legumes works well for me, doesn’t mean that it’s the right diet for you. Some people find that they have a much harder time breaking animal protein down.

All I can say is that you should experiment and see what helps you feel your best. But if you choose to eat grains and legumes, PLEASE soak them for 12+ hours and rinse them before cooking them! Healthy consumption of these foods requires effort.

Are you ready to put in that work?

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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