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This week's episode is a snippet from my upcoming course, The Endo Belly Course. I realised when creating this lesson, that this information is info everyone should know, not just my students! So today's episode is all about what's a ‘normal' and healthy gut vs. what is the endo belly? So first up, I wanted to actually talk about what the endo belly is. The ‘endo belly' is not actually a medical term, but instead is a name the community has coined in reference to the severe bloating we often experience. So, there isn't technically a set definition, but it is generally thought to be severe bloating/swelling that tends to be attributed to endometriosis and is sometimes accompanied by pain. Some experts, articles and endo patients also include gut problems within this term too, but not always. My definition, from my training and from seeing so many clients with these symptoms is that the endo belly is exaggerated/severe bloating, often accompanied by gut symptoms, pain or discomfort - but it is not always caused by endometriosis directly. So here are some of the common symptoms I see in my clients and that I tend to think of as fitting under the term ‘the endo belly': Flares up with stress/food/pain/cycle - but not always, this might just be a daily thing for you. Normally comes with IBS issues like diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, gas. These might not be flares, but more so just your daily bowel habits and gut issues. So, for example, you may tend to always lean towards constipation or loose stools, or you may have a lot of gas on a daily basis. It's often debilitating -  so it may disturb social life, diet, work, or confidence. You might worry about eating out because you're scared of a flare up, you might have to eat a restricted diet to control symptoms, you might have to sometimes take sick days, or you just struggle at work with your symptoms. It's not as simple as just feeling a bit bloated after lunch. Normally a dramatic increase in abdominal size - endo patients often report looking pregnant, requiring different sized clothing, having swelling that's so bad they're in pain.   And finally, I just want to note - some sources discuss the endo belly swelling being lower down in the abdomen and that IBS issues are higher up, but I think the problem with this is that it's not true for everyone and it might mean you dismiss any other possible causes because you think “Oh it's low down, it's just my endo”. I've seen lots of people with SIBO and endo, whose bloating is from their diaphragm all the way down or starts from their belly button and goes down to their pubic bone, so I really wouldn't pay a huge amount of attention to where the bloating is, unless of course you're just getting a tiny bit of bloat or a bump on say one side near your ovaries, which might indicate a cyst, for example. So, something I really think is important to discuss is what is normal vs. what is endo belly, because I don't want us to be trying to reach for an unattainable vision of a healthy gut. So here are some signs of the endo belly/something more is going on with your gut… Bloating and gut problems get worse and worse as day goes on. You get more uncomfortable, maybe your pain increases and by your last meal your stomach has swollen to triple its normal size. Symptoms can only be controlled through restriction - a ‘normal' diet can't be achieved, and you find yourself skipping meals or having to restrict to avoid flare ups. Often can no longer fit into clothes or need to change to be comfortable when your belly swells up because it's become so distended. In short, the bloating is severe and significant. May be accompanied by other health problems and nutrient deficiencies like achy joints, fatigue, low B12 or low iron. These are signs of inflammation and malabsorption of nutrients. You might get constipated before period. From a functional medicine point of view, which is what my training is based on, you should have at least one daily bowel movement, and this is actually really important for hormonal health, because old oestrogen is excreted through waste and that needs to occur daily. However, in contrast, dieticians and conventional doctors tend to take a different stance and say whatever is normal for you, is normal or at least three times a week. In terms of my training with Dr Allison Siebecker, Dr Jessica Drummond, etc. we would consider that as constipation, basically anything that is not once a day, is leaning towards a form of constipation. It might be considered normal, but we wouldn't class it as optimal for health. Diarrhea on period which causes abdominal discomfort, eating problems (maybe you have to avoid food or eat a restricted diet), affects daily life (you might not be able to have a normal workday because you're stuck in the toilet), sicks days, etc. Often affects daily life/confidence because you've been asked so many times whether you're pregnant, you get comments or you just feel fed up with not being able to wear the clothes you'd like. Additionally, your gut symptoms are affecting your daily life, so for example, I had a client who would get several bouts of loose stools every morning, to the point where she would sometimes be late for dropping her child off to nursery. Another client wouldn't be able to finish meals without needing to dash to the toilet. Wake up bloated already or with gut problems/sleep is disturbed due to discomfort. So, I had one client who had a distended belly all the time, and it was so bad she actually got to the point where it was too painful to sit or stand up, she had to lay down all the time. Another client wouldn't be able to sleep because by the evening, her belly was so bloated she couldn't get comfortable, and she'd be in agony from all the gas inside her.   So, in contrast, I wanted to talk about what is normal for a healthy gut, and some of this might surprise you -  Feel satisfied after eating, not overly full or like food isn't going down. Of course, if it's Christmas or Ramadan you might be feasting on more food than you normally would, so of course sometimes you're going to feel full to bursting, but generally, you should feel like you're able to digest your food and like it's going down. It's not just sitting there for hours afterwards. May be a bit bloated or gassy after meals (esp. high fibre. or large meals), but the bloating should subside a few hours later and it's not accompanied by GI distress. This is because our good gut bugs actually eat our food and ferment it, as part of the digestion process. We actually need this to happen to get all of our nutrients. But a result of this process is the creation of gas from the bacteria, and so naturally we will get a bit of expansion after a meal and of course, we're putting food into our stomach, you wouldn't expect to fill an empty bag with food shopping and for it not to expand or look bigger. So, there will be some extension of your abdomen after meals, but it shouldn't be painful, be accompanied by GI distress, be severe or worsen as the day goes on. It should naturally go down and not affect your life or comfort. Additionally, so you know, according to the NHS, a normal amount of passing gas is about 5 to 15 times a day. You should wake up with a relatively flatter stomach in contrast to after meals. This is because your digestion has been working overnight. Now note I don't say your stomach should be flat in the morning, it will be flatter in contrast to after meals, because you haven't eaten in something like 10 or 12 hours. And to follow on from that, a normal healthy gut doesn't mean your stomach is flat all the time. Your stomach shouldn't be flat all the time, it should naturally expand a bit with food! Bloating tends to increase towards period and in luteal phase, but it shouldn't be severe/painful/debilitating. This is because progesterone and oestrogen affect water retention, and so bloating and swelling can increase towards your period when progesterone is at its highest. Now if your hormones are imbalanced, this will be worse, so supporting your hormones (which this course will help with) should minimise the effects, but they won't eradicate them entirely. Additionally, those inflammatory chemicals, prostaglandins, naturally begin building in the uterus from ovulation to your period, and as we know, inflammation creates swelling, so there may be some level of normal swelling during this time, but again, it shouldn't be severe. If it is, this may be an indicator that your inflammation levels are too high, which is likely to be the case anyway, given that the endometriosis lesions release prostaglandins. Lastly, progesterone relaxes muscles, including the muscles of the intestines, so as a result, digestion slows down, meaning things become a bit sluggish and we get a bit more of a build-up of gas and waste, leading to a bit of bloating - again, it shouldn't be severe. Bowels might feel a bit sluggish towards period but shouldn't have full-blown constipation or if you do have any, it should at least short lived, so a day or so, for example. Or maybe your stools are a little harder or more cracked than normal. In contrast, it's normal to have bowel movements that are looser during your period. This is because those prostaglandin E2 causes the muscles to contract, and as your uterus is right next to your colon, this can create contractions in the colon, resulting in a bowel movement and looser stools. If your inflammation levels are high, you may get full blown diarrhea, and that's when we'll want to reduce those levels. Ideally, a normal scenario is maybe more bowel movements which are a bit looser on your period, but they shouldn't be causing you pain or affecting your day-to-day life during this time. Bloating after meals doesn't require a new dress size! Image from Integrative Women's Health Institute To show you what a healthy stool looks like, here is the Bristol Stool Chart. This is a diagnostic tool used to determine the health of stools, especially in IBS populations. In terms of functional medicine training, at IWHI we aim for a 4, so your stools should be snake like, smooth, easy to pass with a banana-like consistency. You should be having one to three bowel movements a day, one is the minimum because for optimal health and hormonal health, we want to removing waste on a daily basis, including old oestrogen, to prevent hormonal imbalances.  Now, dieticians and conventional medicine will likely say to aim for somewhere between a 3-5. In terms of my training, we see 3 as beginning to lean towards constipation and 5 beginning to lean towards diarrhea. This is something that we focus on heavily with SIBO, a lot of people think that they don't have constipation, or they don't have diarrhea - but these bowel movements actually exist on a spectrum. Stools that are like pellets, hard and round, or difficult to pass, is a form of constipation. In my training, anything before 4 is a form of constipation and above 4 is a form of diarrhea or loose stools. They don't show pudding like stools here, but I would consider that as form of diarrhea. However, opinions will vary as I have mentioned, so be guided by what feels best for you. The caveat here is that if you are vegan and eat a lot of plants (not processed vegan food), you may have softer stools, nearer to a 5, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The other thing I would say is don't chase perfection, which I've been guilty of. When my IBS was the most managed it's ever been (at the time of recording it's not, because I've had a SIBO relapse), my stools were about a 5 but I was very caught up on getting them to a 4! So, if your endo belly dramatically improves, if you get an all clear for gut conditions, etc. but sometimes your stools are a little either side of type 4, this is probably not something to worry about. It might just be that you ate a little more or a little less fibre that week, or maybe that's just your normal. If you're concerned about it, certainly see a gut health practitioner, but I just wouldn't obsess about it that's the only issue left and there are no other signs that something is up with your gut.  Just to finish off this section, I want to hammer this home. A super flat stomach does not equal a happy gut - in fact, it sort of suggests that the gut microbiome is under fed or non-existent, because for them to thrive, they need to eat food and as a result, that creates gas. So, we're not aiming for washboard abs all the time, we're aiming for gut health that doesn't affect your daily life, cause you pain or physical/mental/emotional distress. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! 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 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes https://www.siboinfo.com/symptoms.html https://www.endofound.org/endo-belly https://drseckin.com/endo-belly/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs/symptoms/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/remedies-for-bloating-and-wind/ https://nutritionstripped.com/is-bloating-normal/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flatulence/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2849969/?fbclid=IwAR3kn0CVHyH4aZsIJ0hPq8__O7k4WfM_rk7EWKSLWj4RmQlVZsnCbnEu4Yg#R7 https://joe.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/joe/89/2/joe_89_2_011.xm https://nicolejardim.com/howyourperiodaffectsdigestivetract/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16992446/  

Today on the show I am talking about one of the possible root causes of your endo belly – coeliac disease. Now, before you turn this podcast off because you think you don't react to gluten, I am literally begging you to listen.  I have noticed a trend in my clients to dismiss coeliac disease as a possibility, because they don't have immediate reactions after gluten. But – here's the thing, the reactions from gluten are not always obvious and they don't always happen straight away.  So, if you're bloated all the time, tired all the time, maybe you have diarrhoea regularly or gas, or constipation, or maybe you don't have any gut symptoms at all – but you have brain fog, fatigue and achy joints, then it may be down to coeliac disease.  And these symptoms don't just have to occur after straight after gluten. In fact, according to the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, coeliac disease is a “delayed hypersensitivity reaction where symptoms develop 48-72 hours after ingestion” of gluten.(1) Now yes, some people with coeliac disease will experience symptoms soon after eating gluten, but for others, it's a couple of hours or even longer, as demonstrated here. So just because your symptoms do not show up straight after gluten, that doesn't mean you do not have coeliac disease and in fact, if you tend to eat gluten daily, and you tend to feel unwell daily – maybe you have chronic fatigue, for example - then this could be the result of that delayed reaction, just blurring into the next, because there's little time between each serving.  Additionally, the NHS states that symptoms can actually be mild and can come and go, so the signs of coeliac disease may be inconsistent(2). Your reactions to gluten do not have to be severe for you to have coeliac disease, for example, my brother was hospitalised with severe abdominal cramping and vomiting when he was diagnosed, whereas my sister literally said she was just “fed up of feeling nauseas”. And here's why it's important to get checked.  In the UK, only 30% of people with coeliac disease have been diagnosed(3), and it is estimated that 500,000 people are walking around with undiagnosed coeliac disease.(4)  In America, 83% of people with coeliac disease are undiagnosed.(5) And it's not rare either. In the UK, 1 in 100 people have coeliac disease (3) and in the USA, 1 in 133 people have coeliac disease.(5) And as you can see from these stats, the majority of them don't know they have it. And if you have endometriosis, the chances of having coeliac disease is higher. Research has identified a strong  association between endometriosis and coeliac disease. Coeliac disease patients were found to be almost twice as likely to develop endo in research(6) and studies have found that people with endometriosis are significantly more likely to develop coeliac disease.(7) To add to that, coeliac disease is a co-condition of small intestine bacterial overgrowth(8), which is a condition where normal bacteria which should be found in the large intestine, are growing in the small intestine. And SIBO is at present, estimated to affect up to 80% of people with endometriosis(9) and is a root cause of the endo belly, because the signature SIBO symptom is bloating. So, if you have endometriosis and SIBO, this is a really strong indicator that you should get tested. Additionally, in a study of over 200 women with endo, 75% experienced a reduction in symptoms after eliminating gluten for 12 months.(10) That doesn't mean you have to be as strict as someone with coeliac disease if you don't have it, as people with coeliac disease have to avoid cross-contamination, so literally they have to have separate food prep areas, chopping boards, etc. But not eating gluten containing foods may make a significant difference to life with endo.  Now, clearly, this isn't for everyone. For some people in this study, it didn't help, and we have to be careful when we talk about eliminating foods, as it can be triggering and cause issues with disordered eating, so I am not saying to just go and cut out gluten today. In fact, I actually advise against that – at least until you've been tested for coeliac disease! Then if you don't have it, I advise you work with someone to identify if gluten is a problem for your endo personally or take one of my courses where I teach you how to do that yourself, and as you guys know, The Endo Belly Course is currently open for enrolment now. So now you know the prevalence rates of coeliac disease, I thought I'd take you through some of the signs. Now, gut symptoms are often common symptoms, but  some people don't have these at all and in fact, they have other symptoms that may be seemingly random or connected to endometriosis, so they dismiss the possibility of it being coeliac disease. So today, I want to take you through some surprising signs of coeliac disease to look out for: 1) Rashes. Number one is rashes and specifically, a rash called dermatitis herpetiformis. My brother developed this, but my sister didn't, and the rash turned up probably a year or more before his gut issues arrived and it's actually common for people who have the rash, to not have the gut symptoms (though this isn't always the case). The rash looks like blisters on the skin, and is itchy, red, and tends to occur on the elbows (which is where my brother had it), knees and glutes. It is only a rash that appears in coeliac disease patients and is caused by gluten, it is not a rash anyone could get and is not caused by herpes, however, it does look like the herpes virus! Of course, if you have a rash like this and you have some of the other symptoms of coeliac disease, it's worth testing for it, but you can also get a biopsy to confirm whether this is dermatitis herpetiformis.(11) 2) Number two is dental problems. Now this tends to occur if the coeliac disease developed as a child (and just be mindful that coeliac disease can develop at any age!) due to the body being unable to absorb enough nutrients due to the damage in the intestines and from my understand, also as a result of the immune reactions. Dental problems can occur as issues with the enamel and can look like discolouration, patches on the teeth, translucent areas, grooves on the teeth and potentially increased cavities. Additionally, the growth of adult teeth can be delayed too.(12) 3) Number three is mouth ulcers(13), and these would be on the side of the mouth, on the cheeks and tongue, not on the lips – so we're not talking about cold sores. These won't occur in everyone, but if they do, they'll usually be recurring and you may have a few at one time. Again, this is thought to be a result of the nutrient deficiencies and immune response to the gluten.  4) Number four is anaemia, either b12 or iron deficiency induced anaemia or both(14). And this is tricky, because this is also a sign of SIBO!(15) So again, it's easy to dismiss coeliac disease here. B12 and iron deficiency anaemia will cause symptoms like tiredness, dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, numbness in the hands and feet, mouth ulcers, brain fog and irritability to name a few.(16,17) I've linked to the NHS page for symptoms in the show notes.  You can fairly easily get tested for these through your GP or online testing sites like Thriva in the UK, and I've linked to a few of them(18). If your levels are low but not deficient, it's still worth ruling out coeliac disease, because they have to get low to get deficient and if you've only just recently developed coeliac disease, it may take some time for your levels to drop. And on top of that, if you have the presence of gut problems, endo belly or any of the other symptoms I've listed, and you have low levels of iron and B12, it's safer just to rule it out. 5) Number five is infertility or reoccurring miscarriages, and I think this is an important one to raise because we often dismiss fertility problems as a symptom of endometriosis.  Now if coeliac disease is diagnosed and treated (as in, a person sticks to a strictly gluten free diet, which is the only form of treatment there is) then fertility rates return to normal and are equal to someone without coeliac disease. The problem is when it's left undiagnosed, and in fact, the guidance in the UK is that people who have recurring miscarriages or fertility struggles should be tested. I mean I think they should be tested as soon as the difficulty begins, to save people all that heartache, but I guess it costs the NHS less this way. There are numerous reasons why coeliac disease will affect fertility, from disrupting hormones, causing inflammation in the body, nutrient deficiencies and so on. But the bottom line is, the only way to treat it would be with a diagnosis and an adherence to a gluten free diet.(19)  6) Number six is brain fog(20). Coeliac disease patients often report brain fog and fatigue and research confirming these reports, with MRI scans showing brain changes and damage in people with coeliac disease. This brain fog may be accompanied by memory loss, headaches, and even balance or speech problems.  One small study found a significant improvement in patients with CD and cognitive impairment after a year on a strict gluten free diet(21), so there is definitely hope if this is a symptom you have and you're diagnosed!  And I thought I'd raise this one because so many of us report brain fog with endometriosis, and whilst there are many root causes behind this (in fact, I have a whole episode on them) often we just dismiss it as something we have to live with. So those are a few symptoms that you may not suspect would be behind coeliac disease – and these can all occur with or without gut problems and the endo belly. Some other signs to look out for include the development of autoimmune conditions like hashimoto's thyroiditis, type 1 diabetes (which my brother developed) and osteoporosis(22). So now let's move onto testing. To accurately test for coeliac disease, you must be eating gluten daily, at least twice a day, for six weeks(23). This is because the immune system will create antibodies against gluten and that's what's being measured. If you're not eating gluten at all or not regularly, you'll get a false negative test, even if you have the disease. So, if my brother tested today, he would come up as negative, because he hasn't eaten gluten for several years.  Once you've done the blood test, you'll then also be sent for a biopsy.  If you're still not sure whether it's worth getting tested, I've linked to an online assessment in the show notes, which will literally create a letter to take to the doctor, if it advises you to get tested, based on your symptoms.(24)  So that's it! If you have the endo belly, full stop, I advise you to get tested. And if any of these other symptoms sound familiar, I advise you to get tested too! Left undiagnosed, coeliac disease can cause serious health problems and increase your risk of multiple conditions and chronic diseases(24), and we've never lived in a better time to be gluten free, so even though it might be a hassle to get tested, it'll be worth it in the long run.  I've also linked to some gluten free courses and cookbooks in the show notes.(25) Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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  Show Notes 1.      https://farrp.unl.edu/resources/gi-fas/celiac-disease 2.     https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/symptoms/ 3.    https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/coeliac-disease-faqs/ 4.      https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/about-coeliac-disease/myths-about-coeliac-disease/?&&type=rfst&set=true#cookie-widget 5.      https://www.beyondceliac.org/fast-facts-about-celiac-disease-infographic/ 6.     https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21840904/ 7.     https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6601386/ 8.    https://www.siboinfo.com/associated-diseases.html 9.    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9660426/ 10.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23334113/ 11.    https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/related-conditions/dermatitis-herpetiformis/ 12.   https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/related-conditions/oral-health/, https://jcda.ca/article/b39 13.  https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/about-coeliac-disease/what-are-coeliac-disease-symptoms/ 14.   https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/about-coeliac-disease/what-are-coeliac-disease-symptoms/ 15.   https://www.siboinfo.com/overview1.html 16.  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamin-b12-or-folate-deficiency-anaemia/symptoms/ 17.   https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/iron-deficiency-anaemia/ 18.  https://thriva.co, https://valahealth.com, https://www.letsgetchecked.com 19.  https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/conditions-linked-to-coeliac-disease/infertility-and-coeliac-disease/ 20. https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/conditions-linked-to-coeliac-disease/neurological-conditions/ 21.   https://celiac.org/about-the-foundation/featured-news/2014/07/brainfog/ 22.  https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/conditions-linked-to-coeliac-disease/ 23.  https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/coeliac-disease/getting-diagnosed/#glutenthroughout 24.  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/complications/ 25.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/665647/cannelle-et-vanille-bakes-simple-by-aran-goyoaga/, https://www.arangoyoaga.com/on-demand-videos,https://www.learningwithexperts.com/foodanddrink/courses/river-cottage-gluten-free?ref=naomidevlin, https://gluten-free-baking-school.thinkific.com/courses/gluten-free-sourdough-bread, https://gluten-free-baking-school.thinkific.com/courses/enriched-dough, https://gluten-free-baking-school.thinkific.com/courses/everyday-gluten-free, https://gluten-free-baking-school.thinkific.com/courses/bao-noodles-and-dumplings, https://sweetlaurel.com

Happy Monday everyone! As I mentioned, today is another live Q&A style episode, with Friday's episode being one of my regular recorded episodes. This is a nice, short Q&A but I many of those who watched really appreciated the questions and found the answers useful! So hopefully, there's something in this episode for you too! In this episode I answered… How do you test for SIBO and what do you ask for? Advice on exercising with diaphragmatic endometriosis? Can you get rid of scar tissue/adhesions with other methods other than more surgery (short answer: YES!) I really hope this short Q&A was helpful and gives you guys some info/inspiration for your own healing journey. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

Today is another live Q&A from back in June, as due to being unwell and the passing of our cat, I have been unable to complete the planned episode for this week. But, this Q&A is chock full of the foundations of eating for endo, so I hope you find it useful. In this Q&A on nutrition for endometriosis, I cover… The research behind the anti-inflammatory diets and the most researched diets for pain. The key components of an anti-inflammatory diet. Why personalisation is so important. Deficiencies, absorption of nutrients and how to ensure variation. How to eat for blood sugar balance. I also answer some specific SIBO, gut questions and foodie questions. I really hope you find this episode helpful and it gives you some starters to support you with your own tailored endometriosis diet.  Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

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  This episode is another live Q&A and I managed to convince Chris (who hates public speaking, IG lives, etc.) to help me answer your questions about relationships and endo. I had so many questions submitted in the end that we answered the ones that were sort of directed to Chris and I/about romantic relationships and I'll answer the remaining in another live soon! So in this Q&A we answer... Advice to a partner on how to support you when they say they feel “helpless”. Is Chris into holistic/naturopathic health and does he find what I do interesting. Suggestions for helping a partner understand endo. How to have fun with your partner again when endo gets in the way. Just to give a little bit of context, Chris and I have been together almost 8 years, and have been friends for I think 11 or years! He was my friend when I was first diagnosed with endo and we were literally a month into our relationship when my endo symptoms returned. We have a joint column together on Endometriosis Net and Chris has also written for Endometriosis News and still writes monthly for Endometriosis Net! We really hope you found this live helpful.  Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

 So last week I did an episode on adhesion formation post-surgery and how that can affect or literally cause endo belly – and you guys loved it! And I'm glad that you did, because I had another linked episode to follow up with, a part two in a way… So today, aside from adhesions, I am talking about the ways in which endo surgery could have worsened or even caused your endo belly. Now of course, adhesions are included in that, but they're a big topic hence the separate episode, so I encourage you to listen to that if you haven't done so already! So, let's dive in… 1)   Number one is constipation. The medications, like pain relief and some of the other medications they may use in surgery,  can be a cause of constipation following your laparoscopy. Even just having to water fast and not eat anything before surgery, can cause constipation.  There's also the possibility that if you don't feel like eating much post-surgery, or you're stressed from surgery, your gut feels sore after surgery or you suddenly eat a lot more stodgy comfort foods post-surgery, that you may get constipation.  Now a lot of people think constipation is just a matter of discomfort and that it's not a big deal, but actually, we eliminate oestrogen through daily bowel movements. You've heard me talk a lot about excess oestrogen and oestrogen dominance in the past, and how it can be a potential driver of endometriosis and endometriosis symptoms in some of us. However, for many, the symptoms of endo look very similar to the symptoms of oestrogen dominance or oestrogen excess. When we have too much oestrogen in our bodies or we have oestrogen levels that are too high in relation to progesterone, we get symptoms such as heavy periods, period pain, clotty periods, mood swings, breast tenderness and bloating in the lead up to our periods, post-ovulation. So, we may think that our endometriosis is out of hand and causing all of these problems, but if we spent even just a month balancing our hormones, we may see a dramatic reduction or even complete elimination of these symptoms. Now of course, you can have these symptoms of oestrogen dominance or excess AND the excess oestrogen may also be fuelling your endo or worsening your symptoms, that's certainly a possibility, but for some of us, the cause of the symptoms is the hormone imbalance itself.  Regardless, we want to ensure we're supporting your hormones, especially after surgery, because we want to build on the good work of the surgery, and we don't want to have excess oestrogen circulating in our system and possibly feeding any future endo growth. It's not that oestrogen is bad, it's a wonderful and essential hormone, but we want to ensure it is in the correct levels and in its healthiest form, as high levels and unhealthier forms of oestrogen are behind issues like breast cancer, fibroids, and endo. So already, you can see that constipation can have a knock-on effect on our health with endo. But aside from this, constipation or sluggish bowels can cause bloating and discomfort in the abdomen, as waste and gases continue to build up, and this will of course mimic what we call the endo belly. Now as I've said before, I don't believe the endo belly is just the endo belly and it's one sole root cause is endometriosis. In fact, I usually see multiple causes behind the bloating and swelling my clients experience, and sluggish bowels is one of them.  So, if post-surgery you're getting a lot of bloating and swelling (which you will of course, for the first few days, from the gases they use to inflate our bellies), just consider whether you're having healthy bowel movements. You should be having at least one bowel movement a day, and it should be long, snake-like with a banana like consistency. If it's hard, cracked, like pellets or stones of difficult to pass, that's constipation. And if you're not going daily, that's constipation too. Often, we're led to believe that we only have constipation if we're not going as regularly as we normally would, but that's not healthy! If you go once a week and then you start going every 10 days, that doesn't mean your once a week was healthy. A healthy bowel habit for optimal health, hormones and waste elimination is at least once a day.  So, if you are constipated, what can you do about it? Firstly, don't panic. You might be a little constipated for a few days post-surgery as your organs essentially get over the shock of going through surgery, it is after all, a trauma to the body. Even with the methods I'm going to suggest, it might take a few days to get things moving, so don't worry, just get started with them and give yourself some time. Hopefully within two or three days we can get things moving again.   So, the first tip would be to move, gently. This is a basic first line therapy that we genuinely use with gut healing – simply to exercise. It's low risk and is free. I'm not saying to jump on a trampoline, but your body requires movement to get things moving and constipation can often be aided by exercise. Now if we weren't post-surgery, you could maybe do some yoga, go for a run, or do some Pilates, but clearly, we're not going to do that post-surgery.  So, just like is suggested in the post-surgery recovery guidance, just ensure you're getting up regularly and moving around gently for a couple of minutes.  I don't mean a fast walk, I don't mean standing up until you hurt, I literally mean every 30 minutes or an hour, or further apart if that's all you can handle, just gently get up and walk slowly around your room or house, for a few minutes. It could even just be one minute to start with. But if you're lying down for eight hours then things are not going to be moving well in your body.  Doing this is also going to speed up your recovery, because it ensures that blood is flowing to the area of your surgery and getting to work with healing the wounds.  Now, you've likely heard your doctors encourage you to move gently after surgery, but I do want you to check in with them on this, because of course, I don't know the type of surgery you're having or have had. If you had a six-hour surgery then they may give you different advice, so please do check in with them on this.  Next up is a very simple strategy and that's warm or hot water, drunk slowly in the mornings. Yes, really! This actually triggers something called the gastrocolic reflex, which stimulates movement in the large intestine, creating the urge to have a bowel movement.   You can also try increasing your intake of healthy fats, like egg yolks, fish oil (so maybe you take an omega 3 rich oil), or full-fat yoghurt (dairy free if that's better for you, and organic to avoid added hormones if you're having animal-based yoghurt), ideally in the mornings, as this will increase motility (which basically means movement) in the large intestine, and generally, we're more likely to have bowel movements in the morning because digestion has been working overnight and it should take between 12-24 hours to for the food we eat to form a bowel movement.  If none of these simple at home methods work for you, you can try magnesium citrate or oxide. This works by drawing water into the intestines, creating looser stools and encouraging a bowel movement. You can safely take between 500mg to 2000mg, at night, before bed, but normally 1000mg tends to work well for people. You'll need to build up until you find the right dose for you, as going straight in at 1000mg or 2000mg may cause diarrhoea. So, start at 500mg and increase slightly every other night until you get a bowel movement, but keep in mind may take 2-3 days as it can take a little while to get going. If you get bloating or abdominal pain from the magnesium, you've probably taken too much, and you'll need to reduce back down.  Of course, consult your doctor before starting any new supplement!    2)   Number 2 is that the stress from surgery, whether emotional or the physical stress of your body undergoing surgery, can turn off your digestion. Your digestion is controlled by a part of your nervous system called the ‘rest and digest response', whereas your stress response, which helps us to power through stressful or genuinely life-threatening situations, is controlled by a part of the nervous system called the ‘flight or fight response'. The two cannot be operating at the same time and unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the situation, the stress response will always win, because it ensures our survival. This has allowed us to survive and evolve as humanity, but in modern times, even just a stressful email might trigger the flight or fight response, turning the rest and digest response off.  And the thing is, post-surgery we really want the rest and digest response to be operating well, because not only does it control digestion, but it also controls healing. So, when our body and mind is feeling stressed from having a surgery, our healing and recovery time is impaired. But back to digestion. When digestion shuts off, a few things happen. Firstly, our digestion and motility tend to slow down. Now for some people, you may get exaggerated and increased motility in the large intestine, resulting in diarrhoea, but that doesn't mean things are moving well in the small intestines. So, if things have slowed down in the stomach and small intestine, this creates stagnation and a chance for bacteria to populate in the small intestines where they shouldn't be. Now that of course, sounds like small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which is a condition many people with endometriosis have, where bacteria which should be in the large intestine, happily existing in the gut microbiome, are living in the small intestine. This creates a whole host of problems and symptoms like bloating (which we may think is the endo belly), gas, constipation, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain to name a few. Now this likely wouldn't be enough to cause you to develop SIBO alone, because once the rest and digest mode is switched back on, hopefully your motility is working well enough that the bacteria are swept out of the small intestine and into the large intestine where it belongs. However, if you also have adhesions or low stomach acid, or other risk factors for SIBO, it might be enough if you keep returning to this state of fight or flight and you're really chronically stressed.  So, if SIBO does happen to develop, that most certainly is going to cause what we see as the endo belly, which in my experience with my clients, is most of the time at least in part caused by SIBO, so that's one possibility. However, even if you don't have SIBO, that slowed down motility and digestion is going to leave food hanging out in your intestines, whether that's the small or large, leaving lots of time for bacteria to have a good munch on that food, and in turn, they make gas as a result. That's the process of fermentation.  Additionally, when digestion turns off, we also don't get a release of gastric juices like stomach acid and digestive enzymes. These guys are absolutely vital for breaking down food and extracting nutrients, so without them, we're going to have chunks of food in our intestines that can't be broken down and that can result in pain, bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhoea.  A side note here is that we really want to be absorbing our nutrients. Our body requires vitamins, minerals, amino acids, glucose, and fats to heal, not just for the energy but for the actual process of healing and repairing the tissue. If our digestion is shutting down and we're not absorbing our nutrients properly, we're going to have a harder time healing and are most likely going to experience more inflammation and more pain.  Lastly, stomach acid and digestive enzymes actually play a role in protecting us from SIBO and bad bacteria. They kill off bacteria as it enters the gut, and so if those levels are lowered, it's like our first line of defence is lower and bad bacteria can more easily move in. Having low stomach acid is also a risk factor for developing SIBO, it's not usually enough on its own, but coupled with another risk factor it could take us to the point where we do develop it So, what can we do about this?  So, the first thing, of course, is creating feelings of safety in the body and lowering our stress response. There are numerous ways to do this, but some proven effective strategies for turning off the flight or fight response include tapping (where you tap on different points of your body and repeat certain statements), meditation, deep breathing, and spending time in nature. There are other strategies like yoga and exercise, but I'm trying to only highlight the ones that you'll be able to do post-surgery. So even though you may not be able to go for a run or something in nature, maybe you might be able to sit in your garden, or by a window, or when you get stronger, maybe you can manage a 10-minute walk in the park. Now of course, we can't always live in a stress-free bubble, and you may have recurring feelings of stress about your surgery, so it's not that we're trying to totally remove you from the feeling of stress, because that could get pretty stressful in itself! But what we want to do, is a few times a day, take some time to lower our stress response, so the body gets these reminders that it's safe, that you are safe. So perhaps you do some gentle breathing in the morning, maybe you do some tapping at lunch and some meditation before bed, for example.  In the show notes, I have linked to a few apps where you can learn these techniques. Next up is digestion support. Firstly, we want to ensure that when you're eating, your rest and digest response is actually switched on. So, to do that, we want to be eating in a calm environment and taking time with our meal rather than rushing, if we're rushing or eating when we're tense, the flight or fight response will be switched on and digestion will be switched off! You can further encourage the rest and digest response to be on by taking a deep breath or a few deep breaths before eating – in through the nose, and out through the mouth, with your exhale longer than your inhale. This helps to turn the flight or fight response off and the rest and digest response on. Finally, we can further support your digestion by adding in stomach acid support and digestive enzyme support. You can stimulate the production of stomach acid by drinking one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in 8 tablespoons of water 15 minutes before a meal. Drink through a straw to protect your enamel and don't do this if you have a history of stomach ulcers or inflammatory bowel disease. If you have interstitial cystitis or histamine intolerance, the vinegar may not be the best option for you, so I recommend adding bitter foods with your meals, like rocket in your salad, as that can also help stimulate stomach acid – not dramatically, but somewhat. Of course, always consult a doctor before adding in supplements or digestive support.  You can also buy tinctures known as bitters, which are a blend of bitter herbs, and you can take a few drops of that before a meal instead of the vinegar. Again, these tinctures do tend to contain alcohol so people with IC may need to be careful. You can actually take a supplement called betaine HCL, that literally provides you with more stomach acid, but at first, it's best to see how you respond to these options as it can be very strong and is not always suitable for some people. So, start here and if you don't feel like it's helping, I have a protocol for taking betaine HCL in my upcoming course The Endo Belly Course and I think it might be in my endo belly podcast series as well  For digestive enzymes, certain herbs and spices have actually been shown to stimulate the production of digestive enzymes! These are:  ·      Garlic ·      Mint ·      Onion ·      Turmeric ·      Ginger ·      Fenugreek ·      Caraway ·      Fennel ·      Coriander ·      Cumin So, adding a mix of these to dishes can help to increase your digestive enzyme levels. A mix is always best because they tend to increase different digestive enzymes and you need an array of them, so for example, don't just rely on garlic in a meal, try to add one or two other herbs to get the best support.  You can also use digestive enzyme supplements, which you take with meals, as directed on the label. Unless you have a gut health condition, it's best not to use these for more than a month so that your body doesn't get too reliant on them, but I do use them longer term for people with SIBO and anyone with more extensive gut health issues.   3)   The last way endo surgery can cause endo belly and gut problems is by causing leaky gut. As you may know, the pain relief drugs known as NSAIDs can cause leaky gut, but so can stress as the chemicals released in the stress response actually directly damage the gut lining. If you're not familiar with leaky gut, I have a whole episode on it which I've linked to in the show notes, but leaky gut or intestinal permeability occurs when tiny holes appear in the gut lining. Think of the gut lining as a sausage skin, it's a tube from the mouth to the colon that separates what's coming in and going out from the rest of the body. The lining is incredibly thin, just one cell thick and these cells are tightly packed together with only the tiniest gap between them, to allow for the absorption of nutrients. When the gut gets inflamed or damaged from chronic IBS reactions, chronic stress, NSAIDs, infections, SIBO, allergies, intolerances, an inflammatory microbiome, etc. the gaps begin to widen.   When this happens, food particles can pass through the gut lining alongside bacteria and toxins from bacteria, known as LPS. While some of the immune defences are inside the gut, there is also a large amount on the outside of the gut lining, waiting to attack anything that passes through which shouldn't be there. It doesn't matter if this is food or bacteria, inflammatory immune cells will be released and because the blood stream is also on the other side of the gut lining, the inflammatory cells can get swept along the blood stream, causing full body inflammation. If you have leaky gut, this is going to be happening every time you eat, putting you in a state of chronic inflammation. Additionally, leaky gut can cause gut irritation, creating reactions like bloating (or what we may see as the endo belly) and IBS issues. Over time, leaky gut can cause food intolerances as the immune system begins to create antibodies to the foods passes through.  Of course, we don't want this to be happening whilst we're trying to recover from surgery. We want a healthy level of inflammation to help us heal, not chronic inflammation, and we certainly don't want swelling or abdominal distress putting pressure on our stitches or the internal sites which have been excised.  So, what can we do about it?  Well of course, firstly we want to try and lower stress as I mentioned before, so go back to those practices. Secondly, if we can, we want to lower our reliance on NSAIDS during this period. Now if you can't, don't worry – don't feel guilty or pressured, just focus on the stress piece and maybe the next tip too. But if you can, there are supplements that have been shown to be just as effective as NSAIDs for reducing pain, in particular, ginger powder.  Ginger has been shown to be just as effective as ibuprofen and mefenamic acid for dysmenorrhea, it's also been shown to be a wonderful pain reliever in numerous studies for migraines, arthritis pain, back pain and so on. Dose wise, ginger is safe to take at up to 2000mg a day, but it needs to be divided into doses rather than taken all in one go, as that can cause diarrhoea. You could start at 1000mg a day and take it four times a day, so 250mg per dose or some supplement brands are 500mg a dose, so you could start there and do two a day or four a day, depending on the level of pain you're in. You could take it like this daily, to just keep pain down, or you can literally take it at the onset of pain, like a pain killer. Now ginger is a blood thinner, so if you decide to start taking it before surgery, to lower inflammation ahead of time, just consult with your surgeon as they may want you to stop taking it for a few days or a week before your surgery date. Curcumin has also been shown to be just as effective as ibuprofen for pain relief when taken daily for 4 weeks at 1,500mg. It was also shown to have less GI side effects than ibuprofen, which is great for the endo belly! And guess what else? Curcumin helps to heal leaky gut and reduce intestinal inflammation, so double bonus.  Now curcumin is also natural blood thinner, so what you could do is take it for four weeks prior to your surgery to gain the beneficial effects and build up that level of pain relief, and then stop before your surgery if instructed to by your surgeon, so check in with them ahead of the surgery in case they want you to stop, and then start again after your surgery to continue reaping the pain relieving effects. You'll probably only be pausing your dose for a few days, two weeks at the maximum, but it's likely they'll only ask you to stop taking it for a week or even less before the surgery, especially if it's only keyhole. Of course, you may need some more pain relief than these alone, but for some of us, they're enough, and if you're also using some of the supplements, I mentioned in my last episode on the endo belly and surgery, then you really may not need any additional pain relief. However, if you do, hopefully the addition of ginger and maybe curcumin, might lower your need for as many  Finally, I don't want to throw too many supplements at you for this episode and so if you do want some specific supplements and strategies for leaky gut, head to my episode on leaky gut and endo belly healing, which are linked in the show notes. But for now, I want to give you a very simple at home method for calming the gut and healing leaky gut, and that's bone broth. Bone broth contains amino acids and collagen, which help to heal leaky gut.  Now a few caveats to this, if you're vegan or vegetarian, this is of course not the one for you, and so what I recommend is you just really focus on a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods to lower intestinal inflammation, support your gut with curcumin and perhaps listen to my episode on leaky gut and try some of the other tips from there.  The other caveat is if you have SIBO, you might react to bone broth because the collagen in there actually can feed SIBO. Some people with SIBO do fine on bone broth, but others get bloated or get abdominal discomfort, so test how you feel on it. Finally, if you have histamine intolerance, bone broth is high in histamine, so this also may not be for you. You can make a low histamine bone broth by cooking it for much less time, but it won't be as healing for leaky gut because it's going to contain less of those amino acids, collagen, minerals, etc. from the bones.  So if for whatever reason, bone broth is not for you (and actually, even if it is) the foundational thing you can do to support your gut lining to heal, is to eat a nutrient dense diet full of anti-inflammatory foods, because if we just spend our time recovering eating sugar, alcohol and fast foods, the gut lining is going to become even more inflamed and any damage from NSAIDs or stress is just going to be exaggerated. But if you can add bone broth, it'll be a wonderful healing addition to this protocol.  So that's it! You have lots of options to choose from, and you certainly don't have to try them all. Pick and choose what suits you, your values, and your lifestyle, and they will go a long way to helping your gut to recover and heal post-surgery and preventing recurrence or worsening of the endo belly.  Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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  Show Notes Stress relief tools Headspace Calm Tapping Solution Frequency Mind   Ginger research  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23865123/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26177393/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25912592/ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ptr.6730 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7171779/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23657930/   Curcumin https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4533742/ https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/491886 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0753332217346838?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464615000092 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407015/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24672232/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25277322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476912/ Leaky gut episodes https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/endometriosis-leaky-gut https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/-the-endometriosis-belly https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/understanding-the-endometriosis-belly-part-2

Governor Gavin Newsom has put his signature on a bill that stops companies like Amazon from penalizing warehouse workers who don't meet their quotas.  For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Jeff Bell and Patti Reising spoke with KCBS Insider Phil Matier.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's episode is another bonus Q&A and this time it was more light-hearted and fun. This time I'm talking about endometriosis and the associated skin conditions, and I'm also sharing endo friendly skin care tips! In this episode I talk about... My personal experience with rosacea and eczema and how I healed those after over a decade of suffering with them. How treating SIBO improved my skin in so many ways but also dehydrated it and caused some surprising skin issues! My skin care routine, favourite products and gua sha technique that are all endometriosis friendly. The link between endometriosis, histamines and eczema. The link between SIBO and rosacea. Cystic acne, endometriosis and oestrogen and how to begin healing acne. Endocrine disrupting chemicals in skincare and how they affect endometriosis. I hope this Q&A is both fun and helpful! Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop: Creating a Roadmap to Endo Belly Healing To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

So, you've had an endometriosis surgery and you're really hopeful that's this is it – you're going to have some relief, for a while at the least. Maybe your periods are better, your chronic pelvis pain is better, things are improving. But after a few months, the endo belly comes back. Or maybe you get it for the first time ever. You're bloated all the time or maybe you bloat badly after meals, or maybe it gets worse over the day? Perhaps it's also accompanied by IBS issues like constipation, gas, or loose stools. If any of this sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Whilst surgery is essential for many people, it doesn't come without its risks. And I honestly feel like it's a disservice that these aren't more talked about. So today, I'm talking about why you may get endo belly for the first time, a return of it or a worsening of it as a result of adhesions, and what you can do to prevent them.  If you haven't heard me bang on about these guys before, adhesions are a form of scar tissue. They are web-like structures and bands of collagen that grow in response to injury and trauma, to ‘knit' back together a wounded area and as part of the healing process from infection and inflammation. Collagen strands bond together to protect the damaged area to allow healing to occur in a safe and isolated environment, and if an infection is present, they protect the rest of the body by preventing the spread.  Adhesions occur in nearly all cases of abdominal surgery, the results vary from study to study, but one large and long study found that between 55% to 100% of women who had pelvic surgery developed adhesions, and up to 90% of people who had major abdominal surgery - so something like a caesarean - developed adhesions. So, if you've had even one or more surgeries for endo, it's very likely that you have some adhesions. Now adhesions are a leading cause of the condition, small intestine bacterial overgrowth. This is another topic I bang on about all the time, but if you're new here, I am specialised in endometriosis and SIBO, because SIBO is so prevalent in our community, the research at present is indicating that 80% of us have it. And SIBO is a condition where the normal bacteria which should be in our large intestine (this is referred to as our gut microbiome), starts accumulating in our small intestine, where it shouldn't be. Normally, bacteria are moved through the small intestine into the large intestine with the help of something called the migrating motor complex, and this MMC is a wave like motion that sweeps the small intestine of any left-over food bits and bacteria, and it kicks in about two hours after meals and at night whilst we're asleep. Now a number of things can damage the MMC or prevent it from doing its job. Food poisoning or gastroenteritis is the main cause of damage to the MMC, and that actually damages nerves and muscles that control it. But adhesions, even if the MMC is working well, they can stop it from doing its job properly. And they do this by pulling on our intestines. So, imagine you have an adhesion that is going from your pelvis to somewhere on your intestines, it's going to be pulling down on your intestines and distorting the shape or the flow of the intestines. In fact, your intestines need to be able to slip and slide over each other, they need to be able to expand and accommodate food and waste, but if they're being yanked in different directions and they're being held in place by adhesions, the flow is going to disrupted. There may even be adhesions wrapped around the intestine, which would create an obstruction, or the adhesions may have caused the intestine to loop over itself, creating a pocket area that the bacteria can't escape from. Whatever is happening, the result is the same. The small intestine can't get clean, and bacteria builds up, causing SIBO. And the small intestine isn't designed to house bacteria, so this causes all sorts of problems like bloating, which is a main cause of the endo belly and IBS issues. The gases that are released from the bacteria can also cause brain fog, fatigue, joint pain, and body pain to name a few symptoms. I've linked to a couple of episodes where I break down SIBO in more detail, so if you're not familiar with it, have a listen to that. Now even if SIBO hasn't developed yet, adhesions may still be a source of your bloating. If they're not affecting your small intestine, they could still be affecting your large intestine and may be causing a build-up of waste or gas, you may not be able to have regular bowel movements or your intestines might be sluggish and slow, allowing for gases to accumulate, creating that swelling. So, what's the solution? Prevent the adhesions from taking root in the first place, or if they have, start to break them down. So first up, just as a caveat, we want to be lowering inflammation levels before and after surgery with good anti-inflammatory nutrition. Now inflammation occurs during healing, it's actually part of the healing process, but too much of it for too long will encourage adhesion formation. We want a healthy level of inflammation that aids in healing, not a chronic level that accelerates the growth of adhesions. So, before your surgery and during your healing phase, make sure you're filling your diet with those anti-inflammatory foods I always harp on about: colourful vegetables and fruits; healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish; antioxidant packed herbs and spices; and organic lean protein sources beans and lentils, free range organic omega 3 rich eggs, wild caught fish and free range, organic, grass-fed meat. If you want to learn more, I've linked to a few of my podcast episodes on anti-inflammatory nutrition and a free copy of my cookbook in the show notes. I should also be bringing out a nutrition for endo workshop in the next few weeks too, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Okay, so now that's cleared up, let's dive into the extra strategies. I'm going to start with what you can do before and initially after the surgery, and then what you can do once the scars have healed. 1. Number one is supplementing with omega 3 fatty acids.  Fish oil was shown to reduce adhesion formation following surgery on mice with induced endometriosis, and reduced the inflammatory healing process post-surgery, which could reduce the chances of further endo development as inflammatory chemicals like prostaglandins fuel endometriosis. This led to the mice who were fed with fish oil to have fewer lesions than those who were fed a standard diet without fish oil supplementation, so even though we don't have research specifically on adhesion formation and omega 3 on humans with endo,  this could be a potential helpful supplement before and after surgery (though I would argue it's an essential daily supplement).  The therapeutic dose is between 1000mg to 3000mg a day. I personally find I get more pain relief from the higher doses, but it can be tricky to get hold of those levels without exceeding the dose recommendations on the bottle. I have linked to a few higher dose supplements in the show notes, but if you chose to exceed the dose recommendations on the label, obviously that's your choice but you'll need to consult with a practitioner to be on the safe side. However, omega 3 fatty acids are generally very safe at these doses.  If you're vegan, look for an algae-based supplement that contains both DHA and EPA, because we need both. I've linked to a few in the handout.  The only risk is that they can sometimes thin blood, so speak to your surgeon ahead of surgery to see whether you need to stop taking them a few days beforehand, for keyhole surgery it's unlikely, but just check.   2. Number 2 is proteolytic enzymes. Proteolytic enzymes are natural substances that break down protein, and of course, the building blocks of muscle and tissue are amino acids, which form protein. As a result, proteolytic enzymes help to reduce adhesion formation and they also reduce inflammation post-surgery and aid in clearing waste products from the wound site. The research is limited, with most of the research being in oral surgery or sports related injuries but there is one study on endometriosis.   So, the only study we have on enzymes for endo is the use of a brand we use commonly at IWHI and that's Wobenzyme. In the study, Wobenzyme was shown to reduce pain and inflammation post-surgery, reducing the chances of adhesions growth and it also inhibited the formation of new blood vessels, reducing the chances of further endo development. The dose used in the study was the label dose for 40-60 days pre-op and then 60 days post op.  One thing to note is that because proteolytic enzymes reduce adhesion formation, there is the risk that if there is an infection at the site of the wound, that it could spread, as adhesions play a role in isolating infection sites from the rest of the body. This is rare but has been known to happen.    3.  Number three is home Arvigo Massage. Now, everyone is different, but my recommendation is as soon as your scars have healed and the therapist gives you the go ahead, learn Arvigo massage from a licensed therapists and start practising on yourself every day or a couple times a week. This really increases blood flow and helps to clear away scar tissue. It only takes 10 minutes and can be part of your evening routine, because if you do it at night, it actually helps to stimulate your MMC, so that will also help to reduce your chances of clearing SIBO. So that's a great tool you can be trying at home and that's like your daily maintenance. But we do want to go in with the bigger guns and that's so that's number four.    4.  Number four is having some form of professional abdominal massage known as manual therapy, which is designed to break up adhesions. Manual therapy is a form of organ massage and manipulation to break down and prevent adhesions from forming, unstick organs and release a frozen pelvis. Your main options are visceral manipulation or Clear Passage.  Visceral manipulation is a form of manual therapy which was designed by Jean-Pierre Barral. It's generally the more affordable and accessible option and is very effective for treating adhesions. Not much research has been specifically done on its effects on endometriosis, but there is plenty of research on its effects for pain conditions and lots of clinical research with endo patients experiencing success from treatment. The holy grail of manual therapy is Clear Passage. This is a unique form of manual therapy which is designed for adhesions and is incredibly effective for SIBO and endometriosis. In fact, there is even amazing research behind it for these conditions, showing its effectiveness. If you're contemplating a surgery but you're not sure it's necessary or the right path for you, for whatever reason, and you have the money to afford Clear Passage, you may want to look into it first because it can even prevent the need for surgery with endometriosis. Of course, if you have cysts that need removing or deep infiltrating endo that's damaging your organs, I am not saying to ignore the advice of a surgeon and not have surgery, but in some cases, surgery isn't the best option – especially if you've already had a few. Research has shown that the pain relief from Clear Passage is the same as surgery and is long lasting, and they all have remarkable results for endometriosis related infertility, pain during sex, and menstrual or ovulatory pain.  They also have wonderful results for SIBO and are endorsed by many of the world's leading SIBO doctors. Honestly, I wish all of my clients with SIBO, and endo could have Clear Passage because the results from the studies are so positive. However, it's very expensive so if you can't afford it, honestly, don't worry and try the Arvigo massage and visceral manipulation approach. 5. Lastly, you could also try regular castor oil packs. I know countless leading women's health practitioners who use castor oil to soften and break down adhesions and who experience great success with it with their clients. However, it's generally considered that more research needs to be done, though there is research on castor oil's abilities to lower inflammation, reduce symptoms of constipation, improve circulation, and stimulate muscle relaxation.  I actually asked Arvigo Therapist Tara Ghosh about using castor oil packs for breaking down adhesions and she explained how it works. So, castor oil actually triggers the immune system, due to some of its chemical components, but once it responds to the call and finds no poison to clear, the immune system goes about utilising its tools on repairing and healing the pelvic area seeing as it's already there, which in turn helps to break down and clear adhesions. She also emphasises that it lowers of inflammation and improves of blood flow to the area, and that this also helps to clear adhesions or prevent their formation. If you want to learn how to make your own castor oil pack and how and when to safely use them, I advise listening to my interview with Tara who has a really quick and easy method as opposed to the often messy and sticky traditional approach! You can try a castor oil pack alongside your Arvigo massage a couple of times a week once your scars have healed. And if you're years past surgery, don't worry – other than the proteolytic enzymes, you can use all of these strategies to break down any old adhesions that have formed! With the proteolytic enzymes, we only have research that focuses on pre- and post-surgery, so I really couldn't say whether they would work years after surgery, you could try, but I just can't make any guarantees! So that's it! I hope that this episode provides you with a bit of a protocol for healing post-surgery and preventing adhesion formation. I think it's actually appalling that we're not told about them and how to manage them, given that they cause people with endometriosis so many problems, but hopefully this gives you some tools to get to work with.  Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 another endo Q&A and in this live I answer: Will endo get worse or stay the same? My personal experience with mould and how it affected my endo co-conditions. Will endo continue to cause issues even if you're not having pain? Tips for managing the kind of pain flare that leaves you on the floor. Post-period pelvic pain and what to do about it. ...And more! I really hope you find this live helpful! We covered A LOT of super interesting topics in this one. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

Okay, so a number of you have reached out to ask me whether I'm going to talk about my next steps for SIFO treatment, which I wasn't originally going to do as I have an expert in mind to invite onto the show, but as a number of you asked, I hope that sharing my story will be somewhat helpful for you!  So, unlike with SIBO where I had quite a long-term plan in mind, this I am more so feeling out my journey because as I discussed in my previous update, I'm not 100% sure if the issue is gut dysbiosis or SIFO. So, to recap, let's start with what SIFO is. SIFO stands for small intestine fungal overgrowth and it's when fungus like yeast (or other fungi) grow in the small intestine. We do have some normal, non-harmful levels of fungus and yeast in the large intestine, but they become a problem either when they overgrow or when they're found I the small intestine.  Unfortunately, the symptoms of SIFO are exactly the same as SIBO, so it can be very tricky to identify between the two. What makes it harder is that testing for SIFO is unreliable. Often the fungus hides in biofilms, which are protective mucosal-like layers, so they don't show up on tests and even if they do, there's no way, without a very invasive biopsy, to tell whether the fungus is in the large intestine or small intestine. What we do know is that the organic acids test tends to be the most reliable test, at least according to the practitioners I've trained with. We also know the candida tends to be the culprit behind SIFO in many cases, and just to be clear, that's the type of yeast which causes thrush, and we also know that about xxx of SIBO cases.  Now there are some extra tell-tale signs of candida specifically, if that's the fungus behind the problem, and those are…  ·       Allergies ·       Yeast overgrowth (vaginal, oral or on the skin) ·       Nasal congestion and excess mucus or phlegm  ·       Rashes ·       Joint pain ·       Brain fog and chronic fatigue ·       Headaches The difficulty is that unless you have the obvious thrush, whether oral, vaginal or on your skin, this symptoms are also typical of histamine intolerance, which you know if you listen to my podcast, is very common with our community and is also very common with SIBO, and hydrogen sulphide SIBO specifically.  As I had suspected hydrogen sulphide and for sure, have histamine intolerance, any possible SIFO really wasn't obvious. Until more recently. As you may know, about two months ago, I cleared my SIBO! But unfortunately, I still had the majority of the SIBO symptoms. I also had an unusual test result, which showed no hydrogen gas in my large intestine, which is where it should be. In a healthy negative result, you should see little hydrogen gas in the small intestine and then a rise in the large intestine, but I had a flat line. So, this indicates two possible issues – either hydrogen sulphide or a bacterial imbalance in my large intestine, essentially, the bacteria in my gut having been wiped out. Because I'd done so many treatment rounds and most of them would target all three types of SIBO, I felt it unlikely it was still hydrogen sulphide remaining, and my colleagues agreed. Secondly, I had done a round of antibiotics, and I react quite badly to them, having lots of diarrhoea, fatigue, and headaches, and after I finished the course, I got shingles, which you only get when you're very immune compromised. And 70% of the immune system is in and around the gut. If your healthy microbiome in the large intestine is wiped out, you can bet your immune system will be too. So, for sure, I was certain that there was some gut dysbiosis happening. But I didn't believe it was enough to cause all my symptoms.  And a few clues made me suspect SIFO.  Firstly, I was doing pretty well with symptom reduction until the third week of the elemental diet, which is full of simple sugars. Suddenly, I began to bloat up again. I also had a strong white film throughout the entire elemental diet, which indicated the sugars were feeding bacteria or yeast in my mouth, and secondly, I started having thrush symptoms during the elemental diet. Then, from the elemental diet, I went onto the antibiotics, and I got thrush symptoms again! Now Dr Siebecker warns that the elemental diet may cause yeast or fungal overgrowth in people who already have it, in contrast, Dr Ruscio uses the elemental diet for candida overgrowth, because he says the simple sugars are absorbed too quickly for the yeast to eat it. I think it's probably the case that both doctors are right, but that it depends on the individual and that they see different types of patients. Either way, it seemed quite clear to me that I had some yeast overgrowth as a result.  I went to my doctor at Vala, and they agreed that it looked like candida overgrowth in my mouth.  Additionally, I've always had a white film on my tongue, honestly ever since I could remember. I used to ask dentists about it, but they would shrug it off, and tell me it was down to what I had eaten, but I was waking up with it before I had eaten a thing. Back then I just took what they said as gospel. Then a few years ago, my boyfriend and I went through a real sweet tooth phase, long before I had gotten on top of my endo and eating an anti-inflammatory diet, and we were eating a lot of sugar. At that point, I got full on oral thrush, which thankfully was cleared with 24 hours of taking the medication – or so I thought! I've only ever had vaginal thrush a handful times, so again, initially, I really didn't think candida was an issue for me! However, the fact that I then started getting the symptoms from two things which we know may cause yeast overgrowth – the elemental diet and antibiotics – made me think that maybe I have had SIFO all along, but the white film never got out of control, and it wasn't really affecting my vagina too much. Now having said this, according to Dr Jacobi, candida can also cause a burning bladder pain, and for sure, that's what my pain feels like inside my bladder. Like I have a fire going on in there, and there's also a few rusty knitting needles sticking through it too!  So, alongside my colleagues who I trained with in SIBO and my doctor, I concluded I do likely have SIFO and gut dysbiosis.  The problem is, if you have SIFO, its usually quite hard to clear SIBO or to stay in remission, and even though I still had all the symptoms of SIBO, I felt like I relapsed about 2 weeks into my all clear. The changes were subtle, but they were there. I was still having bloating and loose stools, that hadn't changed. But what had improved is I could no longer feel fermentation happening in my gut, like active bubbles forming and moving around in my gut, which I used to get all the time – and that returned. The second issue was that my stools changed, and I won't go into the detail, but it was reminiscent of when my SIBO used to be really bad. Then I started getting the burping back, which was a new symptom originally, that started I think in 2019, but it went during treatment, and came back around the same time as these other symptoms. So, this occurred whilst I was in my prevention of relapse phase. So, when you clear your SIBO, you move into a three-to-six-month period where you put in place meal spacing, prokinetics (which are supplements or drugs which stimulate your migrating motor complex in the small intestine overnight, to clear out bacteria) and some kind of SIBO diet. There are also some additional extras you can do, which I was doing. I was pretty much doing everything perfectly, but I relapsed.  So, I was two weeks in, whilst deciding what treatment to start for SIFO. And at that point, sometime after my relapse, is when we decided to go to Greece.  Now originally, you'll know my plan was to do a very specific reintroduction of foods, following the usual elimination diet reintroduction phase, where you try one new food basically a week. But now I had relapsed, and I was at a point where I never didn't have symptoms. I bloated after every meal, despite being on the SIBO bi-phasic, so I couldn't get any more restrictive. So, trying to tell what I was specifically going to react to was going to be incredibly difficult and frustrating.  Also, we have been wanting to travel for years, but in addition to COVID, we hadn't because of my SIBO. I didn't want to be in a position where I had to eat outside of a SIBO diet and ended up relapsing. But now I had relapsed. And part of what may cause relapse is chronic stress and an elevated nervous system. I won't go into it now, but many of you know that I have felt very, very stressed and unsafe in our current home in Margate, but we've had continual circumstances that have prevented us from moving – one of them being that we didn't want to just move to a new flat, we really wanted to move overseas and roam around for a while. Additionally, we had mould, which we've cleared as much as we can, but there's likely a lot of hidden mould as the entire flat was flooded not long after we first moved in, and it was after that that I got very sick with histamine intolerance, which can flare up from mould triggering the immune system. But this is a stressor on the body and nervous system, and additionally, can cause relapse if your immune system is being compromised by something like mould. On top of that, I'd worked really hard, for really, really long and it had been a tough few years. So, we made quite an overnight decision to go to Greece for six week. You know, our original vision was to pack up, leave the flat entirely and just travel Europe for six months, because that's all we're allowed to do thanks to Brexit, but because of the restrictions with COVID, etc. it was just all so limited and so fingers crossed, we can do that this year. But we both decided enough was enough and we wanted a break from the house and a change of scenery, of course it was something we just wanted to do in life, but in a large part for me, my health was my motivation and my therapist even called it an intervention, and that's for sure what it felt like. So, I made the decision to go to Greece, knowing full well I wouldn't have total control about the reintroduction of food, but by this point I was pretty certain I had relapsed and giving that I still had the SIFO road ahead of me, a break away seemed not just like it wouldn't do much more damage, but that it would be good for me. So, my plan for SIBO and SIFO basically revolved around Greece because I would have to take all my treatment with me. And I established three goals, I mean I didn't, I'm not that organised, but that's this is what I focused on – ·       Keeping SIBO at bay and continuing the prevention of relapse to the best of my ability so it didn't progress rapidly. ·       Beginning to take on SIFO, but gently, to avoid any die off reactions whilst away. ·       And to rebuild my microbiome and improve my gut lining, which I was already working on anyway. So as a result, here's what my current protocol looks like:   Diet Before we went away, I began expanding with one to three new foods a week. Just some of the key ones that I thought I should try before we went, that I would likely rely on in restaurants, like lentils and some nuts. Then, as we planned for Greece, my aim was to eat as expanded as possible, so basically the more lenient end of a SIBO diet, which looks more like the expanded version of the low FODMAP diet and the paleo diet. This is fine by the way; you won't relapse if you expand. The point of the prevention of relapse phase is to expand to tolerance as rapidly as possible. Of course, I had no bloody idea what I was and wasn't tolerating, so I just decided to follow the low FODMAP serving guidance to help me to stay within some kind of relatively low carb (that's the basis of a SIBO diet) protocol. So, before we went, I basically started transitioning from the bi-phasic, which is very, very restrictive, to low FODMAP. Because we are here for six weeks, I had the advantage of not eating out all the time. So, I my plan was, and what I have implemented whilst here, was to eat low FODMAP during the week at home, and then at the weekend, to eat as low FODMAP or paleo friendly as I could manage whilst out and about, but also allowing for treats and just basically enjoying and appreciating a different cuisine. Now my doctor, who is a functional medicine doctor, sent me a candida diet. There are a few different versions, but essentially, it's a low carb diet to a degree, that removes yeasts and sugars. I had a look through it and because in terms of servings, it's generally less restrictive than the low FODMAP, I was essentially doing it, other than when I have some bread or ice cream over the weekend. But I didn't really want to go down a rabbit hole with that, especially as I'm not sure how suitable the candida diet is for SIBO and equally, some practitioners debate whether the candida diet is even necessary. So that's going to be a bridge that I cross when I get home. But for the most part, I am naturally doing it anyway. So, we've been here for about two weeks now and I've settled into a routine of this kind of pattern. The first weekend we were in Athens for 48 hours and were travelling and didn't really have time to seek out gluten free and dairy free, etc. We did stumble across a few places, thankfully, so that was great. But I ended up eating quite a bit of gluten, and by the third day I felt really nauseas and started getting an upset stomach. I also had dairy too, once, or twice, because it turns out that in Greece, it's really hard to eat vegan and gluten free in general restaurants. The protein options are mainly meat, fish or dairy and often the fish was things that I just wouldn't be able to stomach, like octopus, and as you know, I was hoping to transition back off of meat after having to eat on the bi-phasic, so I had some cheese every now and then, as being a health coach, blood sugar is important to me and so you do need protein with every meal. Also, my blood sugar is very suspectable to lows, so just having a plate of carbs would really mess me up and ruin the rest of the day, so I had to make choices about having enough fat and protein and that sometimes looked like a little dairy. Now I know I'm intolerant to dairy, which actually might be due to having SIBO, because it causes temporary lactose intolerance until you clear it, so I wasn't eating huge amounts and I tried to choose cheeses that I know I tolerate better, and I avoided cow's dairy and milk for the most part – except for a scoop of ice cream here or there, but in Athens I could get vegan.  So, because I was nervous about eating foods out, that I hadn't eaten for a long time, I took with me betaine HCL, which is stomach acid support; digestive enzymes; FODMATE, which is digestive enzymes specifically for FODMAP foods and charcoal capsules, which absorb gas if you have bloating and can also be helpful with diarrhea, and all of these have been really handy when out. I've still not had the happiest bowel movements, but I wasn't having sudden severe reactions whilst out and needing to dash to the loo, which is what I used to get and what I was scared of. So that's the diet side of things.   SIFO For SIFO, I didn't want to go in too hard core now and then have lots of die off reactions whilst away, which would leave me feeling really unwell. So instead, I started subtle. I have a one-week course of an anti-fungal from my doctor, but I am also taking a high dose of saccharomyces boulardii, which is a healthy yeast probiotic that competes with candida for space in the gut and has been shown to be very effective. I am also taking another probiotic called lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, which creates candida antibodies to kill it off.  I am also taking immunoglobulins, which are naturally a part of our immune system and line our gut, but I am very low on these. They bind to toxins and help expel them, and when they're low, we're more suspectable to infections, parasites, yeast, etc. So, I am taking them to help with both the SIBO and SIFO. Additionally, I am taking glutathione, which is an antioxidant that's absolutely essential to liver function, and so this is supporting my liver to clear out all the toxins as the candida, fungus, etc. clears, helping me by lessening the die off.    SIBO For SIBO, I am keeping it at bay with the strongest prokinetic, called prucalopride. This is a pharmaceutical drug, but unfortunately, the natural prokinetics aren't normally strong enough and this was certainly the case for me. I tried them all, and they just didn't do the job. Whilst doing that, I am of course doing the diet 80% of the time, and then meal spacing as much as possible. So that's 4 hours between meals and 12 hours overnight. Sometimes I can't manage the 4 hours between meals because I'm hungry or I need to support my blood sugar, but at a minimum we're required to do 12 hours over night. I think maybe three days I ended up doing less than that because of travelling, maybe 10 hours or something. And alongside that I am taking low dose allicin, which is an extract from garlic, and I use multiple times in my SIBO treatment with success, and allicin also kills off fungus. It's reportedly not strong enough alone to kill fungus and yeast, but it can help and in combination with the probiotics, I think it's a nice combo to keep the SIFO at bay at least, if not begin killing it off.  So, I am taking the allicin at a low dose to keep the SIBO at bay, and this is a common approach. Dr Siebecker doesn't use it, but some other doctors do use it between treatment rounds instead of a prokinetic, and it does work. So, it may not be enough to kill the SIBO, in fact I know it's not, but it just sort of keeps it from growing like crazy.  Then of course, the immunoglobulins help too.   Microbiome and gut lining repair So, I am taking high dose fish oil, about 2000mg, which helps to repair the gut lining.  I am taking 2000mg of quercetin, which again helps to repair the gut lining, and also lowers inflammation in the body and gut and is a natural antihistamine. I was taking l-glutamine before I left, which is the best leaky gut healer, but the tub was huge and was open, and is a white powder, so I thought I might get arrested for that one! Additionally, the saccharomyces boulardii also helps to repair the gut lining, and the lactobacillus acidophilus also contains two other strains which have been shown to repopulate the gut and increase levels of beneficial bacteria. Now normally, I wouldn't take so many probiotics with SIBO, because taking too many can cause a flare up and even cause it to grow, but it's about testing your tolerance. If you take a probiotic and you're bloating or SIBO symptoms get worse, it's probably not the best one for you because it's feeding your SIBO. In contrast, certain single strains are better tolerated. I like to build people up to a few strains, and I was already on two, so with this combo I'm on four, and I tested them out before I left to make sure I wasn't reacting. But essentially, I couldn't find a single strain of lactobacillus acidophilus for the life of me, so this was the best I could find!  And the immunoglobulins help to rebuild the gut lining and support the microbiome too.  Additionally, in general, I have been supporting my gut by using the app. Nerva, which improves the gut-brain connection and using Arvigo massage at night to stimulate the migrating motor complex overnight. Both of these also help to lower stress, which damages the gut lining and microbiome, so addressing a stressed nervous system and an anxious gut is really important too – and I see Greece as part of that. I have to say, I haven't been able to be consistent with the massage and the Nerva with all the travelling, but we're a week into our new temporary home now and we're here for another three weeks, so I can get back into my routine.  So that's my current protocol. When I return to the UK, I am going to move into a high dose of oregano and another yeast antimicrobial, likely Candibactin AR, but continue with the probiotics, and I'll of course retest for SIBO. If I am positive, I may do the elemental diet again, whilst taking anti-fungals, as that should kill it at the same time. I may then need to continue with the candida treatment for several months, as it can take some time to clear. But I think that will be judged on whether I am seeing any improvements, because if it's not candida, then I don't want to waste time treating the wrong issue. I'm hoping to do an organic acids test too, to see if any candida shows up. What I'll do is take an anti-biofilm for two weeks ahead of the test, and that will hopefully break up the biofilm so it can be detected. It doesn't always work, but we'll see. But there are plenty of natural anti-fungals to rotate through and I have all the doses from my course with Dr Jacobi, so I'll let you know which ones I'm doing as I go through the treatments. If it's not candida, I may be still having symptoms because of possible Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which I am being assessed for when I return, and I've been talking about that over on Instagram if you want to learn more about its connection to endo and SIBO. And it could also be that I am just rapidly relapsing and severely reacting because of an upregulated nervous system, in which case, there are two great courses for rewiring your brain if your body is very reactive, one is called DNRS and the other is the Gupta Programme, so I may consider those too. I see a lot of this with my clients, an upregulated nervous system from years of pain, inflammation, etc. It's really too early to say which route I'm going to go down until I see what my SIBO results say, and I see how I respond to the candida treatment that I try when I get back. So that's it. I hope that sharing my journey has given you some insight into your own, has maybe offered you some hope or some motivation to keep going. I know clearing these guys is tough, and I'm with you on that, but feeling well is possible.  Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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   Show Notes Nerva DNRS Gupta Programme Arvigo massage practitioner  

Today is another recording from an Instagram live I did - this time all about endometriosis and chronic fatigue. In this episode, I discuss - Why does it happen? Covering the link between endo/chronic pelvic pain/chronic pain conditions and low cortisol, inflammation and mitochondria dysfunction, gut health issues and nutrient malabsorption, hormone imbalances and blood sugar dysregulation. Whether fatigue will fatigue get worse the longer you live with endo. Why fatigue might be worse after your period. Whether fatigue is still common after excision surgery. What's the best/quickest way to get iron levels up. I really hope you find this episode useful! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes' in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Ep. 139 Ep. 141

A few weeks ago, I shared an episode on addressing low moods in your luteal phase (that's your premenstrual phase, which occurs after ovulation and lasts around two weeks), and I started with low blood sugar. In this episode, I want to talk about the other common issue which can cause low moods at this time of your cycle, and that's low progesterone. I was originally going to also talk about low neurotransmitters as well, but actually just low progesterone alone has so many parts to it (and I didn't even touch upon them all!) that I think it would be good to separate this theme into three episodes, so one on blood sugar, one on low progesterone and one on low neurotransmitters. That way, you can work on an area and observe the difference, rather than trying to address all the issues at once, when some of them may not even be relevant to you.  If you haven't listened to my previous episode, then I really strongly suggest you start there and begin balancing your blood sugar first, because you may not even need to address these next steps if your symptoms improve with better blood sugar levels!  And the reason why I am covering this, is because 93% of you said that you suffer with low moods in the week or so before your period, and endometriosis is enough to deal with, let alone with feeling extra teary, anxious, or irritable! I want to make your period and the rest of your cycle as manageable, and even as easy as possible for you, so even though this may not seem directly linked to endo, it will improve your overall experience of your cycle. In fact, addressing these problems will likely help your endo too – and I'll explain why as we go through the episode.  So, let's dive into low progesterone. And to understand this, we need to understand how progesterone is produced. The majority of our progesterone comes from a gland called the corpus luteum. This is a temporary gland that is formed once our chosen mature egg is released from its sack-like follicle during ovulation. When this sack no longer holds the egg, it transforms into our corpus luteum, and this gland releases progesterone during the second half of our cycle. Progesterone is responsible for various reproductive roles, such as further preparing the uterine lining and supporting a healthy pregnancy, which is why it's so crucial to have good progesterone levels if you're trying to conceive or struggling with miscarriages. But it is also a mood soother and without enough of it, we can get cranky, irritable, depressed, or anxious… Progesterone produces a metabolite, which is essentially a by-product that is made as a result of progesterone being used. This metabolite is called allopregnanolone and it usually has a positive impact on nerve signalling and brain function. Allopregnanolone binds to GABA receptors, and GABA is a neurotransmitter which tends to soothe and calm the nervous system. And just to be clear, a neurotransmitter is essentially a chemical messenger which transfers information from one brain neuron to another, they include other neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. So, this binding to the GABA receptor enhances the calming effects of GABA, creating a sedative like response which can improve sleep, calm anxiety, and generally soothe both body and mind. However, if we're low in progesterone, we may not have enough allopregnanolone to reap the benefits of GABA, and the reason why we'll notice this so dramatically in the second half of the cycle, is because in the first half, oestrogen is supporting serotonin production, our happy hormone. So, when oestrogen lowers in the second half of our cycle, if we don't have enough progesterone, we may feel a real crash in our mood. On the flip side of this, research is showing that in those with PMDD, regardless of the levels of progesterone, these people have a negative reaction to the binding of allopregnanolone to GABA receptors. They actually have the opposite reaction; they become anxious, the nervous system over responds, etc. So, if you suspect you have PMDD, just have an awareness of this – healthy hormone levels will help, but you may also need some extra support due to this reaction. I've put a link into the show notes where you can read up on this a little more and to two podcast episodes where I cover PMDD and how to manage it.  But for those of us without PMDD, lower levels of progesterone can cause insomnia, anxiety, depression, and irritability. And also, if you suspect you have oestrogen dominance and you're wondering why we don't just keep reaping the benefits of serotonin if our oestrogen levels are higher than they should be in the luteal phase, well in many cases, it's not that oestrogen is high, but that progesterone is too low, and this creates an imbalance where oestrogen is too high in relation to progesterone. Or you may genuinely have high levels of oestrogen and too low progesterone, or simply just have high levels of oestrogen and normal levels of progesterone, but regardless, that doesn't mean the effects will be positive! If your hormones are not doing what they're supposed to be in the second half of the cycle, you're going to run into problems and oestrogen dominance or excess oestrogen causes PMS, which of course, causes mood swings. So, the best way to have balanced moods in your luteal phase, is to balance our hormones. So how do our levels of progesterone get too low in the first place? So, number one is a lack of ovulation. If we don't ovulate, we don't have healthy progesterone levels, because the majority of progesterone will come from the corpus luteum, which is only made once we've ovulated.   And many people think if they have a period, they've ovulated, but this isn't the case. You can still have a period without ovulation, it's just not a true period, it's sort of like a breakthrough bleed. If you want to know for sure if you're ovulating, then you need to use the Fertility Awareness Method to track your cycle and this will measure your basal body temperature, cervical fluid and cervix position and will give you the exact date you ovulated on. Understanding the Fertility Awareness Method is really another podcast episode, so I've provided a link to where you can learn more about it in the show notes, but I also share how to do it in my course and with my clients, if you want more support on how to do it. So, what stops up from ovulating? Many things, but the key is usually stress, whether that's emotional or physical. And that stress can look like work stress, money stress, general life stress, but it can also be physical stressors like chronic inflammation, gut health conditions like SIBO, blood sugar imbalances, too much caffeine (because caffeine turns on the stress response), etc.  When our body is stressed, it kicks into survival mode and energy is taken away from non-essential functions and directed to essential functions that will help us to survive ovulation is not one of those, so that is put on the backburner. Additionally, having a baby when we're under threat, from a biological standpoint, is not the best time to bring offspring into the world, so there are several ways the body responds to stop us from conceiving, and most of these result in a lack of ovulation.  Additionally, when we're stressed, the body will always prioritise cortisol, our stress hormone. Cortisol and progesterone actually fit into the same cell receptors, so when we have higher levels of cortisol, progesterone is blocked from cells, preventing it from getting to work. So even if we have healthy levels of progesterone, if we're stressed, we may not be reaping the same benefits.  Another possible cause of low progesterone is hypothyroidism, which is when the thyroid is producing too little thyroid hormones. Autoimmune hypothyroidism, known as hashimoto's thyroiditis, has actually been linked to endometriosis in several studies, indicating that there could be a greater risk of developing the autoimmune condition in those of us with endo. Some signs of an underactive thyroid are: ·       Chronic fatigue ·       Low libido ·       Painful joints ·       Cognitive impairment such as brain fog and forgetfulness ·       Feeling cold all the time or particularly sensitive to cold ·       Constipation ·       Dry skin and hair ·       Hair loss or thinning (including eyebrows) ·       Weight gain ·       Low moods or depression ·       Period problems such as heavy, long, or painful periods ·       Infertility or miscarriage I've written an article about the subject, though it is fairly old, and I'd love to update it, but it does have some good guidance on how to check for signs of hypothyroidism and how to correctly test your thyroid too! However, the bottom line is, if you're not producing enough thyroid hormones, you won't be making enough progesterone because a lack of thyroid hormones can stop or delay ovulation and additionally directly affect our ability to make enough progesterone. Another cause of low progesterone would be nutrient deficiencies. Nutrient deficiencies are a stressor on the body regardless, and so that could interrupt ovulation, but if we don't have adequate nutrients, we may struggle to develop healthy follicles, meaning that even if an egg does make it to ovulation, the corpus luteum might be too poor quality to produce sufficient levels of progesterone.  So, what can we do about low moods caused by low progesterone? Well, clearly, there could be a number of causes, so I'm not going to give you a huge to-do list because that'll be overwhelming. Instead, I'm going o give you some baby steps to try and if they don't help over the next few cycles, you can turn to the deeper investigations.  My first suggestion is to manage stress and raise GABA levels with one action. Any stress reduction exercises can help to lower stress and raise GABA levels according to Trudy Scott, in her book, The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution, but particularly, yoga has been shown to be a shining star here. Additionally, you could try deep breathing exercises or slow movement like tai chi or forest bathing (a fancy term for walking in nature)! The more you do of these in your luteal cycle, the better you'll likely feel and the more you do of them all month long, the less likely you'll be to feel low in your luteal phase, because hopefully, the stress reduction has supported a healthy ovulation!  My second suggestion is to eat more fat. Yep, I really said that. And when I say fats, I mean healthy fats, like olive oil, avocados, and nut butter. Our hormones are made of fat and protein, specifically cholesterol and a protein called STAR protein. If we're not consuming adequate fat, we won't be developing healthy follicles leading to low levels of progesterone or a lack of ovulation entirely. Additionally, eating enough fat keeps blood sugar levels stable, and we know that imbalanced blood sugar is a major stressor to the body, which of course can lead to delayed or missing ovulation and resulting PMS. When we're thinking about serving sizes of healthy fats, we want to be eating around two golf ball sized servings of fat with every single meal. So that might look like two tablespoons of nut butter, or maybe a third of a large avocado for example.  So that's it. Those are two fairly easy and pleasant actions to get started with – try eating more fat and try out some gentle exercises like yoga, breathing or slow movement, ideally at least one of these once a day if possible. Now of course, if you have hypothyroidism or you suspect you do, then these exercises aren't going to be enough to recover your progesterone levels and you'll need to get that addressed.  And additionally, if you have gut health issues like SIBO, gut dysbiosis, candida, etc. these are going to be a significant source of inflammation in the body and will be a chronic stressor, which could be having a real effect on your hormones. In fact, gut health issues are a leading cause of hormonal imbalances; the healthier your gut, the better your hormones will be – and the better your endo symptoms will be! Gut health problems will also very much be behind nutrient deficiencies as well, if you have them that is, as they'll often affect nutrient absorption. And the toxin known as LPS, which comes from gram-negative bacteria and escape through a leaky gut wall, have also been shown to contribute to the development of autoimmune hypothyroidism. LPS levels are very high in SIBO, so healing that will help to prevent the development of hypothyroidism or will improve your symptoms if you already have it.  Now of course, gut healing is a whole other topic and can often take some time to work on, so I'm not going to dive into that here. What I will say is I have plenty of episodes on leaky gut, SIBO and gut healing in general, and I'm also running a free gut healing challenge at the moment, called the Endo Belly Challenge, so you can sign up to that if you'd like to begin working on this area of healing. And finally, the standard protocols I always go on about such as eating a nutrient dense anti-inflammatory diet and balancing your blood sugar will have a significantly positive impact on ovulation and progesterone production, so generally trying to keep those in mind is going to help here too.  In the future, I'll do another spotlight episode on progesterone and how to boost that but start here and see how you do for a few cycles and then if you're not experiencing much of a response, begin to investigate some of the other issues I raised today like PMDD, hypothyroidism and SIBO. Additionally, listen out for the final episode in this series to see if that could help you too! Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

For the next few weeks I'm experimenting with something new - two episodes a week! I'll be releasing my usual podcast episode and a live Q&A recording, so anyone who doesn't follow me on Instagram can tune in there. I want to see how you guys like this format and then if it's something that is working well, we'll keep to two a week for the most part. As a result of this new change, this week's first episode is a recording of my SIBO live Q&A. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth in our community is a big, big deal. Current research has shown that possibly 80% of us with endo have SIBO, and having SIBO may even be a risk factor for developing endo in the first place... BUT having endo can also cause SIBO so it's a real chicken or the egg scenario. In this Q&A I break down: The stats behind SIBO and IBS with endo The treatments for SIBO: antimicrobials, antibiotics or the elemental diet. Why you can't just treat it with one round of over the counter herbs (there are specific time frames and quantities!). Root causes of SIBO and prevention of relapse. The current problems with trying to access a diagnosis and treatment though the NHS. Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

Cybersecurity threats do not just occur with adults. More and more, younger people are vulnerable. This episode is also available as a multimedia blog post: https://evansonmarketing.com/2021/08/30/cybersecurity-threats-aimed-at-students/

Better sex, more pleasure, receiving, success, being present, in your body and healing with the divine masculine and feminine energy. Working with your inner child, her sacred tantrum. Being able to hold space for all your emotions, your 'too-muchness', expressing yourself, communicating and trusting in life by harvesting this energy and feeling safe and protected. Regardless of how you identify gender-wise, we all have divine feminine and masculine energy.Things mentioned in this episode: The Awakening Package, working with me on a 1:1 basic and includes #TheMoreMembership https://kirstydee.com/product/16178/The More Membership: https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/Soul Sessions: https://kirstydee.com/product/soul-shift-session/Self-Love & Fully Expressed (Free Facebook community as mentioned in this podcast): https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfloveandfullyexpressedTRUTH & TRANSFORMATION: THE SELF-LOVE NO BS PODCAST WITH KIRSTY DEEAn unpolished raw podcast about unearthing the crap that holds us back. Aimed at women who want it all and wanna feel damn good about themselves. We will talk openly about struggles, the highs and lows of life, sex, family, relationships, emotions, healing, mindset, dreams, spirituality, vulnerability, money, bisexuality and so much more - in fact, nothing is really off the table. If it's holding you back from the life you want we will talk about it. If you wanna feel damn good we need to talk about the real stuff so that's what we are doing here. I believe when we love ourselves our life really transforms in the most beautiful ways and when we don't love ourselves we don't feel enough or fulfilled. This is a podcast to bridge the gap. It's a podcast about feeling good about you, living life in your truth, on your terms.Support the show (https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/)

Okay, this is a bold statement but… this is my most favourite This EndoLife episode ever. You all know I've been fascinated with the world of chronic pain science for a long time now. In fact, I did an episode on lowering pain signals through calming the brain and nervous system back in 2019 but I've been on a continuously evolving research journey since. And this research has led me to Curable, an app for chronic pain, that works by helping to reprogram the brain and nervous system so we can unlearn pain pathways and reduce chronic pain flare ups. I absolutely love Curable, and use it with my clients to help them to address the ways in which trauma, stress and a heightened nervous system could be contributing to their pain levels. Often I find it's the missing piece of the puzzle in someone's endo healing journey. So I am so excited to introduce you to this week's guest, social worker and psychotherapist Christie Uipi. Christie is on the Scientific Advisory Team at Curable, and is specialised in chronic pain, depression and anxiety. After enduring years of chronic pain herself, Christie went on to not only cure her chronic pain but also to specialise in treating it! In today's episode, we discuss: Christie's personal story with chronic pain. How all pain is made in the brain and how that differs from being told endo pain is just “all in our heads”. How pain evolves to become chronic and how that changes the brain and nervous system. What factors influence chronic pain for better or worse. How to identify if pain is from tissue damage vs. an upregulated nervous system. How an upregulated nervous system can directly influence endometriosis pain. Exercises to begin reprogramming the brain to lower pain signals. I really hope this episode is useful to you and perhaps it will be the missing link you've been looking for in your own healing journey. Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Endo Belly Challenge Episode 73 (pain signals, etc.) Curable Christie's website This Might Hurt film

Awakening, Transformation & Changing Your Life. I talk about how that looks, challenges, fears, rejection, emotional dysfunctional relationships, escapism, boundaries, narcissism etc.Mentioned in this podcast. My awakening package ( 3 months 1 to 1 coaching with me and membership) https://kirstydee.com/product/16178/All my other offerings, soul sessions, #TheMoreMembership (things mention in this episode etc) enrol at kirstydee.com My Ig @KirstyDeeShares https://www.instagram.com/kirstydeeshares/ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfloveandfullyexpressed ( I go live in there once a week)TRUTH & TRANSFORMATION: THE SELF-LOVE NO BS PODCAST WITH KIRSTY DEEAn unpolished raw podcast about unearthing the crap that holds us back. Aimed at women who want it all and wanna feel damn good about themselves. We will talk openly about struggles, the highs and lows of life, sex, family, relationships, emotions, healing, mindset, dreams, spirituality, vulnerability, money, bisexuality and so much more - in fact, nothing is really off the table. If it's holding you back from the life you want we will talk about it. If you wanna feel damn good we need to talk about the real stuff so that's what we are doing here. I believe when we love ourselves our life really transforms in the most beautiful ways and when we don't love ourselves we don't feel enough or fulfilled. This is a podcast to bridge the gap. It's a podcast about feeling good about you, living life in your truth, on your terms.Support the show (https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/)

This week's episode is a good one! Today I am talking to Dr. Brianne Grogan. Dr. Bri is a pelvic floor physiotherapist who helps people to recover from pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain, bladder and bowel dysfunction and pelvic floor injuries through her online programmes and free resources (like YouTube)! She is the author of Lady Bits: Understand Your Body, Elevate Your Health, and Reclaim Your Spark Naturally, the founder of FemFusion and Vibrant Pelvic Health and is the podcast host of Dr.Bri Talks Lady Bits. I was so excited to have Dr Bri on the show because I get so many questions about how to work out safely with endo - lots of you want to move your bodies, but you're scared of making the pain worse or doing damage! Many of you have also expressed that you have fitness goals and that you're fed up of just doing yoga or stretching exercises, so I really wanted to talk to someone who actually creates workout videos and who could speak to these issues. In this episode we discuss: Which types of workouts are safe for endo, vaginismus and bladder pain and which ones we may need to tweak and tailor. How to exercise safely with endo and pelvic pain conditions - whilst still growing your booty and building abs if that's what you want to do! The correct form to support pelvic health with endo. The benefits of movement for people with chronic pelvic pain conditions. How and when to adapt our exercise routine if we're having a bad day pain wise. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! 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 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes "Overcome Pelvic Pain for Women" - a fully guided holistic programme that includes stretches, deep relaxation poses, nutrition guidance, trigger point release, mindset work, and more. Get a 7-day free trial: https://www.vibrantpelvichealth.com/free-female-pelvic-pain-7-day-program Dr Bri's YouTube playlists, all in one place: bit.ly/FemPlaylists 20 minute core workout for a tight pelvic floor: https://youtu.be/DleC6Hn0_KU Exercises and Stretches for Endometriosis | Gentle Pain Relief: https://youtu.be/Y7ZRyBkSLCs Period Relief Yoga Stretches: https://youtu.be/bZgBw6mo60c @femfusionfitness on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Booty workout example discussed in episode Ab workout example discussed in episode Pelvic floor release

Hey lovelies, this episode is on how to have healthy thriving relationships and warning signs. I talk about dysfunctional stuff, people-pleasing, boundaries, conditioning, what we got taught love is and red flags etc. I also talk about emotional manipulation and guilt trips etc.Mentioned in this podcast. My awakening package ( 3 months 1 to 1 coaching with me and membership) https://kirstydee.com/product/16178/All my other offerings, soul sessions, #TheMoreMembership (things mention in this episode etc) enrol at kirstydee.com My Ig @KirstyDeeShares https://www.instagram.com/kirstydeeshares/ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfloveandfullyexpressed ( I go live in there once a week)TRUTH & TRANSFORMATION: THE SELF-LOVE NO BS PODCAST WITH KIRSTY DEEAn unpolished raw podcast about unearthing the crap that holds us back. Aimed at women who want it all and wanna feel damn good about themselves. We will talk openly about struggles, the highs and lows of life, sex, family, relationships, emotions, healing, mindset, dreams, spirituality, vulnerability, money, bisexuality and so much more - in fact, nothing is really off the table. If it's holding you back from the life you want we will talk about it. If you wanna feel damn good we need to talk about the real stuff so that's what we are doing here. I believe when we love ourselves our life really transforms in the most beautiful ways and when we don't love ourselves we don't feel enough or fulfilled. This is a podcast to bridge the gap. It's a podcast about feeling good about you, living life in your truth, on your terms.Support the show (https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/)

I have said it for 5 years now. Vince McMahon was always jealous of what Triple H did with NXT. Now the truth is finally being revealed, as Triple H is being sabotaged by Vince McMahon and his team because nobody in power wants Triple H to take control when Vince McMahon steps down. Triple H is also being blamed for the Wednesday Night loss to All Elite Wrestling, which we all know it was a decision made by Vince McMahon himself to move NXT to 2 hours to compete head to head against AEW.  Today's show is sponsored by Magic Spoon Cereal! Save $5 off and make your mornings health & delicious by using our link https://magicspoon.thld.co/SCRIPT Also on this episode of Off The Script 386: - Johnny Gargano & Candice LaRae to welcome new baby - Keith Lee "fights for his life" as he explains his absence - WWE King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring finals set for Saudi Arabia - Braun Strowman plans his in ring return - Bray Wyatt mental health rumors have been debunked - USA Executives are said to be disappointed with WWE changes to NXT - WWE not interested in pushing hard to keep Adam Cole - Details about meeting between Vince McMahon & Adam Cole - Vince McMahon wants "no more midgets" in NXT - Plans for Bronson Reed before WWE release? - Internal roster concern over John Laurinaitis power in WWE - Details on the WWE releases, ‘toxicity' backstage that is hurting NXT - Triple H reportedly being sabotaged in family power struggle - Ric Flair headed to AEW - WWE Raw, SmackDown, AEW Dynamite and NXT ratings report BECOME AN OTS VIP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qSUdhxQMdFm7AjXt-QDxg/join Socials 

The Church largely ignores the subtle strategy destroying young people today. While we prepare sermons to inspire, Satan is busy infecting the next generation with misinformation designed to damn their souls. How can we combat this demonic strategy in our churches? Today, I interview Dennis Ritchie from Oasis Church in Cheshire, CT, who shares insights from the Book of Daniel. Connect With Dennis Ritchie Like my Facebook page to follow us in Zimbabwe Subscribe to My YouTube Channel to watch Videos From Zimbabwe.

Okay so a while ago I ran a poll about PMS and endo, and I wanted to know what symptoms you struggle with. Turns out, the majority of you get low moods during your luteal phase. In fact, out of the hundreds of you who entered the poll, 93% of you said you struggle with low moods and mood swings during your luteal phase. So today's episode is the first in a two part series. Today I'm going to take you through one of the key causes of PMS mood swings and I'm going to provide you with my go-to strategy for starting to tackle it, and then in the second episode, I'll be taking you through the secondary causes and strategies.   So number one, where we're starting, is to balance your blood sugar, and truly, this is one of the most important things you can do if you want to improve your moods during this time, lower inflammation and balance your hormones. This is really key and this is why I'm starting here. If you've got your blood sugar sorted, then clearly this isn't your main cause and the next two causes in the future episode will be more relevant, and they are low progesterone and low neurostransmitter levels. But we're starting with blood sugar because this is foundational to hormone health and plays a really big role in PMS, and could be the reason why you have low progesterone anyway! So let's look at what blood sugar has to do with moods specifically. Blood sugar is the measurement of glucose in our blood. Glucose comes from complex carbohydrates like fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains, etc. and it is our body's and brain's primary fuel. For us to feel energised and have stable energy levels all day long, we need to have a steady drip of glucose filtering into our blood. When we're eating a diet that consists of complex carbohydrates, that also includes healthy fats, proteins and lots of fibre, this ensures good blood sugar levels.  But glucose also comes from refined carbohydrates, such as sugars like honey, maple syrup and standard white sugar, and baked processed products like bread, cake and pizza. These foods contain a lot of carbohydrate and little fibre, they are made of simple carbohydrates, meaning that they break down very, very quickly in the gut. Complex carbohydrates are called complex carbohydrates because their chemical structure is made of long chains of glucose linked together, which takes the body longer to break down. In contrast, simple carbs are made up of very short chains of glucose that are easy for the body to break down. This creates a huge surge of glucose that's pumped quickly into your blood stream. What then happens is that your body panics. It's a stressor to the body to have this much glucose in the blood at any one time, so it releases a hormone called insulin. Insulin usually delivers glucose to our cells for fuel, but when we have too much glucose, it's released in really high amounts and pushes it into the liver and fat cells for storage. This equally happens quickly, in fact, a little too quickly and the insulin accidentally takes too much glucose out of the blood in its rush to clean things up, and our blood sugar levels plummet. This leaves us hungry soon afterwards, and we end up on a blood sugar rollercoaster, needing more refined carbs and sugar to fuel us and get our blood sugar levels back up to a healthy level. Of course, eating more sugar or processed carbs won't take us to healthy levels, but will spike our blood sugar levels once more – so we'll temporarily feel good, only to crash again, so the cycle continues. The result is that we spend our days going through highs and lows, and this blood sugar rollercoaster feels like: ·      Hanger ·      Irritability ·      Anger ·      Moodiness ·      Tearfulness ·      Anxiety ·      Shakiness ·      Feeling sleepy after meals ·      Having mid-morning and mid-afternoon energy slumps ·      Cravings for caffeine, sugar or refined carbohydrates ·      Trouble falling asleep, waking up in the night or struggling to wake in the morning ·      Feeling thirsty a lot You don't have to have all of these symptoms, but if you have a few of them, it's likely your blood sugar levels need improving. So what's this got to do with PMS? Well, in the first half of our cycle, from menstruation to ovulation, as oestrogen rises, we're actually more insulin sensitive because oestrogen actually boosts the effectiveness of insulin. This means we respond well to insulin so we're getting in glucose and making energy effectively, we're satisfied more easily and we feel satiated for longer. Basically, we're more responsive to insulin and that in turns helps us to have balanced blood sugar levels and stops us from craving all the sugar. But in contrast, in the second half of our cycle, when progesterone rises, we actually become less insulin sensitive because progesterone can dampen the effectiveness of insulin. That means the same meal you ate the week before, may no longer satisfy you because your body is not taking in the glucose from insulin in the same way. It also means, as a result, you may be more susceptible to blood sugar highs and lows and you might end up eating more refined carbs, sugar, etc. because you still feel hungry or less energised, so your body is telling you to eat foods with a quick energy fix. This is likely why 84% of you say you get cravings during this time! This of course can create those blood sugar crashes that leave you feeling anxious, tearful, irritable, or moody. This is one of the key reasons we can feel low during the luteal phase, which is why we start here. In the follow up episode I'm going to take you through the other causes, but by working on your blood sugar levels, you'll actually be preventing the other causes from happening in the first place in many cases, so this is the foundation we really want to have in place. Once this is in place, we can clearly and accurately see whether there's any other issues left over affecting your moods in this part of your cycle. So there are a few key strategies for balancing blood sugar, but let's start with the main strategy to get you going. Ideally, we want to practice this all month long because it's going to lower inflammation and regulate your hormones so your PMS will be better and your pain will be better too, but at the minimum, it will be helpful to bring this strategy in from ovulation onwards until your period so we can manage those blood sugar levels.   So, the strategy is to eat healthy fats, fibre, complex carbohydrates, and protein with every single meal. And so this looks like: ·      50% of your plate (or half your plate) should be covered with low starchy veggies. This is where your complex carbs and fibre will come from. This is important because the carbs give you energy and the fibre slows down the release of glucose, because it takes longer to digest foods with fibre. So think asparagus, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, aubergine, cauliflower, etc. ·      25% of your plate should be protein (or a quarter of your plate). And that should be equal to the size and thickness of your palm. We need about 20g of protein per meal on average, so that's not 20g of beans or chicken, but how much protein is actually in the food itself. Don't worry, you don't need to be weighing things up, just start with the ratios first, the portion sizes. If you're still getting hungry after meals, check how much protein you're actually eating and up it if need be. For meat, it works out at about 3-4 oz of animal protein. If you're eating beans or a protein rich grain like quinoa or brown rice, you're probably going to need to up your levels with say a dressing made of nut butter, or an egg, or maybe a tablespoon or two of seeds. Also, remember that beans and grains also count as complex carbs, so keep that in mind for when I get to the complex carbs bit!  ·      Next up, we want the final 25% to be split between more starchier complex carbs and healthy fats. For healthy fats, we're looking at a two golf ball sized serving, or two heaped tablespoons and that could be equal to half an avocado, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of nut butter, etc. Fat helps to slow the blood sugar release down, and is actually essential for hormone production by the way!  The starchier carbs would consist of a small handful of something like root veggies such as sweet potato or parsnips, or maybe some quinoa or beans if you haven't had them already as your protein source. And so this is where it has to be very individual as if you already have beans or grains, you might not need that extra starch boost and instead, you could just add some extra veggies so your plate is around 60-65% veg. But if you have say beans on your plate for your protein source and you tend to burn a lot of energy during the day because you're a very active person, you might need a little sweet potato too or some grains. And if you've got meat as your protein source and you're very active, that serving of starchier carbs might need to be a bit bigger than someone who isn't very active. It has to be tailored to you and what your body needs.  For example, my blood sugar cannot tolerate beans and grains in the same meal, I crash and burn hard! But I have a job where for the most part, other than using a standing desk a few times throughout the day and my usual exercise routine, I don't have a physically demanding lifestyle. But if you're say a nurse in a busy hospital, a dance teacher or an athlete, you'll probably feel like you do better with that extra fuel. In fact, one of my clients who's a dance teacher always needs some kind of grain with her meals or her blood sugar would get too low, because she was always burning it off! Another thing I want to mention here is how our blood sugar responds to grains is very personal too. Some people find that grains give them a steady release of fuel, others find they spike their blood sugar levels quickly and then crash. That's me! Especially after oatmeal, I can have a big, filling bowl but find myself starving and shaky an hour later, if not sooner. So if you do respond like that to grains but you want to eat them regularly, you might need to up you fat and protein to really slow down that glucose release. So, this is where we get started. It might sound a little fiddly, but over time, you'll gradually grow accustomed to it and notice when one of these food groups is missing! In the show notes, I've linked to a great diagram of how this looks on a plate, so you can always print that off and have it on your fridge.  Now there other steps to balancing your blood sugar, but it can take some time to adjust to this one, so this is where I'd suggest for you to start and then you can revisit my past blood sugar episodes to learn more, or I think I'm probably going to release a standalone workshop on this in the future so you can always sign up to that if you'd like a deep dive and a step by step process.  But start here, give it at least one cycle and see how you're doing. Of course, if you're constantly spiking your levels with chocolate and sweets, then balancing your meals won't cancel that out, so just be mindful of that! And I just want to leave you with one last tip, to really get off on the right track, make sure your breakfast is fat and protein rich, don't skip these two! If you're just having oatmeal, you're going to need to add a lot of nut butter, some protein powder or have two eggs on the side to balance out the carb content. Keep that in mind when you start the day and you'll find balancing your blood sugar levels much easier as go through the rest of your day. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! 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 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes  How to Build a Healthy Plate Diagram by Amelia Freer  

Hey lovelies, this episode is on regulating your nervous system, processing your emotions and inner child healing. We go into self-love, how there is no 'bad' emotions or negatives ones but our conditioning makes us think so. My offerings, soul sessions, #TheMoreMembership (things mention in this episode etc) enrol at kirstydee.com My Ig @KirstyDeeShares https://www.instagram.com/kirstydeeshares/ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfloveandfullyexpressed ( I go live in there once a week)TRUTH & TRANSFORMATION: THE SELF-LOVE NO BS PODCAST WITH KIRSTY DEEAn unpolished raw podcast about unearthing the crap that holds us back. Aimed at women who want it all and wanna feel damn good about themselves. We will talk openly about struggles, the highs and lows of life, sex, family, relationships, emotions, healing, mindset, dreams, spirituality, vulnerability, money, bisexuality and so much more - in fact, nothing is really off the table. If it's holding you back from the life you want we will talk about it. If you wanna feel damn good we need to talk about the real stuff so that's what we are doing here. I believe when we love ourselves our life really transforms in the most beautiful ways and when we don't love ourselves we don't feel enough or fulfilled. This is a podcast to bridge the gap. It's a podcast about feeling good about you, living life in your truth, on your terms.Support the show (https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/)

Tonight: The smoking gun document that could have upended democracy as we know it—and the DOJ official who tried to help Trump steal the election. Then, where is this accused Proud Boy-insurrectionist getting his "sudden windfall" of cash that could spring him from jail? And the growing voices of Covid regret, as a governor facing a rise in cases admits his anti-mask law is hurting his state. Guests: Charlie Savage, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Stuart Stevens, Scott MacFarlane, Paul Krugman 

Today's episode is a SIBO update from me… and it's an exciting one! I FINALLY have a negative test - or is it? Yes, nothing in my treatment journey has been straight forward so far and apparently, that's not going to change any time soon! In today's episode, I share: My experience on the second round of the elemental diet and why I LOVED it! My struggles with the low histamine bi-phasic diet and what finally got me on track. My experience on antibiotics for SIBO (rifaximin, metronidazole and neomycin) and the not so great response from my immune system. The symptoms that got better - and the symptoms that got worse, despite a negative test result. The dilemma as to whether my SIBO test results are negative or a hydrogen sulphide flat line. Why I think I may have small intestine fungal overgrowth and what my next steps are with testing and treating. My prevention of relapse strategies including supplements, hypnotherapy, vagus nerve healing and more! This is a LONG episode but there was so much to catch up on, and I just hope that by being really honest about my journey, you'll be able to gain some insight and perspective on your own healing path with SIBO and endometriosis. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Bladder test Organic acids test GI Map

Is there an ideal portfolio of investment assets, one that perfectly balances risk and reward? In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio (Princeton UP, 2021) examines this question by profiling and interviewing ten of the most prominent figures in the finance world—Jack Bogle, Charley Ellis, Gene Fama, Marty Leibowitz, Harry Markowitz, Bob Merton, Myron Scholes, Bill Sharpe, Bob Shiller, and Jeremy Siegel. We learn about the personal and intellectual journeys of these luminaries—which include six Nobel Laureates and a trailblazer in mutual funds—and their most innovative contributions. In the process, we come to understand how the science of modern investing came to be. Each of these finance greats discusses their idea of a perfect portfolio, offering invaluable insights to today's investors. Inspiring such monikers as the Bond Guru, Wall Street's Wisest Man, and the Wizard of Wharton, these pioneers of investment management provide candid perspectives, both expected and surprising, on a vast array of investment topics—effective diversification, passive versus active investment, security selection and market timing, foreign versus domestic investments, derivative securities, nontraditional assets, irrational investing, and so much more. While the perfect portfolio is ultimately a moving target based on individual age and stage in life, market conditions, and short- and long-term goals, the fundamental principles for success remain constant. Aimed at novice and professional investors alike, In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio is a compendium of financial wisdom that no market enthusiast will want to be without. Marshall Poe is the founder and editor of the New Books Network. He can be reached at marshallpoe@newbooksnetwork.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Is there an ideal portfolio of investment assets, one that perfectly balances risk and reward? In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio (Princeton UP, 2021) examines this question by profiling and interviewing ten of the most prominent figures in the finance world—Jack Bogle, Charley Ellis, Gene Fama, Marty Leibowitz, Harry Markowitz, Bob Merton, Myron Scholes, Bill Sharpe, Bob Shiller, and Jeremy Siegel. We learn about the personal and intellectual journeys of these luminaries—which include six Nobel Laureates and a trailblazer in mutual funds—and their most innovative contributions. In the process, we come to understand how the science of modern investing came to be. Each of these finance greats discusses their idea of a perfect portfolio, offering invaluable insights to today's investors. Inspiring such monikers as the Bond Guru, Wall Street's Wisest Man, and the Wizard of Wharton, these pioneers of investment management provide candid perspectives, both expected and surprising, on a vast array of investment topics—effective diversification, passive versus active investment, security selection and market timing, foreign versus domestic investments, derivative securities, nontraditional assets, irrational investing, and so much more. While the perfect portfolio is ultimately a moving target based on individual age and stage in life, market conditions, and short- and long-term goals, the fundamental principles for success remain constant. Aimed at novice and professional investors alike, In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio is a compendium of financial wisdom that no market enthusiast will want to be without. Marshall Poe is the founder and editor of the New Books Network. He can be reached at marshallpoe@newbooksnetwork.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Hey, lovelies, in this episode we talk about how to manifest, conscious manifestation, without any spiritual bypassing and not allowing yourself to be fully human. We talk about so-called dark desires, sex, fantasies, fetishes, relationships, love and doing shadow work. Things I mention:My membership: The More Membership enrol at kirstydee.comTeal swan video on YouTube - Healthy Sexuality Vs Healing Sexuality & The Secret Behind All Sexual Fetishes Audible I mentioned - Existential Kink by Carolyn Elliot PhDMy Ig @KirstyDeeShares https://www.instagram.com/kirstydeeshares/ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/selfloveandfullyexpressed ( I go live in there once a week)TRUTH & TRANSFORMATION: THE SELF-LOVE NO BS PODCAST WITH KIRSTY DEEAn unpolished raw podcast about unearthing the crap that holds us back. Aimed at women who want it all and wanna feel damn good about themselves. We will talk openly about struggles, the highs and lows of life, sex, family, relationships, emotions, healing, mindset, dreams, spirituality, vulnerability, money, bisexuality and so much more - in fact, nothing is really off the table. If it's holding you back from the life you want we will talk about it. If you wanna feel damn good we need to talk about the real stuff so that's what we are doing here. I believe when we love ourselves our life really transforms in the most beautiful ways and when we don't love ourselves we don't feel enough or fulfilled. This is a podcast to bridge the gap. It's a podcast about feeling good about you, living life in your truth, on your terms.Support the show (https://kirstydee.com/product/the-more-membership-3-months/)

Christian Layolle is the UK head of The Mills Fabrica, which recently opened a new location in London's King's Cross. Aimed at bringing sustainable innovations to scale, it's the long-awaited expansion of the Nan Fung Group's business-incubator concept launched in Hong Kong in 2018. Plus: we head to Connecticut to meet John Walker, head brewer and co-founder of Athletic Brewing Company. The brand is a leader in bringing life – and taste – to the buzzing non-alcoholic beer sector. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Litigation support can be daunting to those new to the industry – not only are there technical skills to learn, but also legal considerations, project management and communication & presentation skills are all keys to your success. In this podcast, we will discuss the kinds of transferable skills which will help you in your new role, how best to learn those important technical skills, and how to identify the opportunities to develop and improve your skills.   Moderator: @Rachel McAdams - eDiscovery Technical Specialist, A&L Goodbody Solicitors Speakers: @Kathy Dallaire, CEDS -  eDiscovery and Litigation Support Coordinator,Stikeman Elliott LLP @Doug Austin -  Editor, eDiscovery Today ​Recorded on 07-26-2021

As some of you know, I've been a bit sick recently with suspected shingles! As a result, I am just in too much pain to sit and record an episode, so today I am sharing another healing story. This time, I'm chatting to Neisha. I wanted to share Neisha's experience because I think her story will resonate with many of you because she just discusses so many relevant topics. Neisha started my course Live and Thrive with Endo on the pill (though she didn't want to be on it and didn't feel well with it), severe period pain, low moods, fatigue and severe allergy reactions. Working through the course she now feels well pretty much all of the time, her allergies and hay fever have disappeared, she has tonnes of energy, she has transitioned off the pill and she has better moods and feels empowered about managing endo. Before we dive in I wanted to just let you know that this chat with Neisha was originally recorded as a testimonial for the course, but the course is closed now and won't be open again until next year - so this episode I am simply sharing just because I hope it will be helpful. Secondly, I also wanted to let you know that Neisha and I talk about an elimination diet in this episode, so skip this episode if you think that might be triggering for you. But if not, I wanted to give some context - both in my course and with one to one clients, I first start lowering inflammation by adding foods in for the first few weeks, so lots of colourful veggies and fruit, nuts and seeds, healthy fats, etc. - all tailored to each person and their needs. Then, as we move to gut healing, course students or one on one clients have the option to do a 4 week elimination phase, where they remove the key or common inflammatory triggers such as dairy, gluten, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and soy. There are two versions, a simplified version and the full version, or people can just tailor the elimination phase to what they think is best for them. This elimination phase allows for the immune system to calm down, for inflammation to lower and for the gut to begin healing. After 4 weeks, they reintroduce each food removed one by one, for a period of days, to see whether the body reacts. This is the best way to test for intolerances and food sensitivities, and is considered as such based on research. It's not a trendy ‘cleanse' or diet, this is based on research, evidence and is a standard protocol in my training with Dr Jessica Drummond and Nicole Jardim, as well as Dr Alison Siebecker, who refers to this as a first line therapy. You don't have to do this elimination phase if you don't want to, but it's an option and an option that Neisha felt was right for her, but of course, everyone is different! So I just wanted to make that clear before you hear this interview and worry that an elimination phase is a must for healing. Here are some of the key topics we covered in our chat: How Neisha didn't realise that she was suffering with low immunity, blood sugar imbalances and histamine intolerance until she lowered her inflammation levels and balanced her blood sugar. This part is really inspiring for anyone living with allergies as Neisha was! Why Neisha wanted to come off the pill, and how she prepared her body with the course to transition off without triggering hormonal chaos and post-pill symptoms. Why Neisha chose to try an elimination diet to lower her inflammation and her advice for anyone worried about the restrictions involved. I really hope this episode is helpful for you and inspires and motivates you on your own healing journey! 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 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Friday July 23, 2021

Here's what you need to know before joining the social audio platform, especially if you're a person of color.

Historian Kenneth Davis joins the show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us this time on the Exploring Art Podcast to embark on a journey that captures the essence behind the works of famous artist Raphael and the words of Joshua Reynolds, all while evaluating the philosophy within each topic. Aimed at the artistically inclined, your host Thomas Bier, and his castmates Nick and Daniel, will uncover the various amounts of lore stashed within each painting.

Before I get started I just want to remind you that my course Live and Thrive with Endo is open for enrolment. In this 8-week course, you will transform the way you manage endometriosis and learn the tools and strategies for reducing your symptoms naturally so you can thrive with endo and get your life back. This course is a step-by-step outline of my exact one-to-one coaching programme; a road map for reducing pain, bloating, fatigue and brain fog (not to mention all the other symptoms!). It is the most comprehensive and clear resource I offer, other than working with me directly... And today I just wanted to let you know that I've added my SIBO bonus module to the course and you'll receive this when you sign up before Tuesday midnight BST.  Classic signs of SIBO include:  Bloating Constipation Abdominal pain and cramping Diarrhea Inflammation Nause Vomiting And current research is indicating SIBO prevalence in the endo community at 80%, so it's really worth investigating.  This module will take you through understanding your test results, the different types of SIBO and the different types of treatment so you can begin to understand the road map to healing with SIBO.  What you'll get: How to interpret your test results tutorial SIBO types and treatment tutorial, with accompanying handout Resource guide for SIBO healing The link to enrol and to learn all about the course and to even watch a course video which shows you the modules, is in the shownotes.  I would love to see some of you there! Okay so today's episode is another inspiring transformation story and this time I'm talking to Miriam. And the reason why I wanted to share Miriam's story is because it just moved me so much, she experienced such an incredible change in quality of life that I really had to share it. As someone who personally faced a lot of challenges at work in the past with endo, the fact that Miriam was essentially able to save her career and job really resonated with me. I also love this story because Miriam was literally able to improve her pain, her fatigue, her brain fog and her bloating - all key symptoms many of us with endo suffer with. So, here in her own words is Miriam's story... Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. My course, Live and Thrive with Endo is opening for enrolment again soon. Join the waiting list now to access early bird pricing and special bonuses. Sign up 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Live and Thrive with Endo course 

Biden signs executive order aimed at anti-competitive practices. Taking Trump's cue, Bolsonaro clouds vote with fraud claims. President tells Putin Russia must crack down on cybercriminals. You can subscribe to Five Minute News with Anthony Davis on YouTube, with your preferred podcast app, ask your smart speaker, or enable Five Minute News as your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing skill.  Subscribe, rate and review at www.fiveminute.news  Five Minute News is an Evergreen Podcast, covering politics, inequality, health and climate - delivering independent, unbiased and essential world news, daily. 

Today we're doing something a little different. For the past few weeks I've been recording testimonial videos with people who have taken my course, and I really wanted to share some of these stories because they're just so incredible. I know a lot of you expressed an interest in hearing more positive and uplifting real life experiences with managing endo, and as I personally found these stories so inspiring, I thought you guys might as well.  So I'm starting with Rachael's story and I'll leave Rachael to share her experience in the podcast, but to give you an overview, Rachael was suffering with PMDD, chronic fatigue that was affecting her ability to work and painful (endo) periods which required her to use opioids to get through. She'd recently had excision surgery but was still suffering with an array of symptoms and was feeling desperate and didn't know what else to try. Once Rachael started the course, through making nutritional and lifestyle changes, Rachael was able to: Stop using opioids to get her through her period and instead now just uses magnesium baths, ginger tea, paracetamol and BeYou patches.  Has gone from having to sleep for two hours every day during work (which was agreed through occupational health) due to severe fatigue to having sustained energy and has only needed these allocated sleep hours twice in the past 8 weeks!  Stopped suffering with PMDD symptoms and works with her cycle to keep her endo and PMDD symptoms at the minimum.  Her transformation is really remarkable and so I hope that if you also struggle with any of these, Rachael's story will shine a light at the end of the tunnel for you... Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. My course, Live and Thrive with Endo is opening for enrolment again soon. Join the waiting list now to access early bird pricing and special bonuses. Sign up here. This episode is sponsored my free workshop Creating a Roadmap for Endo Healing in 2021: Overcome Overwhelm, Identify Your Core Endo Challenges, Learn the 8 Key Pillars of Healing and Set Goals and Next Steps So You Can Begin Managing Endometriosis with Confidence and Clarity and take action after the workshop. Sign up 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Creating a Roadmap for Endo Healing in 2021 Live and Thrive with Endo course

We recount the insane story of how a pampered heiress and journalistic wannabe, enriched by millions of dollars seized from Iran by the US government, sued us for exposing her bogus Hezbollah sources, and hired an influential pro-Israel lawyer to try to bankrupt The Grayzone. After 2.5 years of silence, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak out about the McCarthyite legal assault. We expose Sulome Anderson and the powerful neoconservative forces supporting her lawfare campaign against us. VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=6vCnQKPznzM Read about the case here: thegrayzone.com/2021/06/29/lawsuit-sulome-anderson-hezbollah  

So, now you've learnt all about the link between HPA axis dysfunction and endometriosis, in today's episode I want to provide you with some of the core foundational strategies for healing HPA axis dysfunction.  Before I dive in, I do want to state that healing HPA axis dysfunction can take some time, especially if you're prone to living in the flight or fight response – so what I mean is, you're default mode is feeling stressed, or anxious, or you spend a lot of time rushing around or over-committing yourself to endless to-do lists. If this sounds like you, don't worry, that's me too, and it's many of my clients and for those of us who are like that, it can take some deep unlearning of these patterns before we can really get to see significant improvement. We can certainly feel better, and many do, but I think to really thrive and not keep returning to this cycle of low cortisol burnout, we need to change some of these habits. So, for example, one of my clients loves to work and runs her own business like I do, so we make traction with her HPA axis dysfunction, but then if she goes through a busy period, her default mode is to put her sleep, and the strategies I'm about to share, on the backburner, because that's always been her strategy. To push through, to keep going, to reach for perfection. And I totally get it, because I'm exactly the same too. So for her, we've seen improvement with her HPA axis, most definitely. She used to not be able to get out of bed! But we still have a long way to go because it's a few steps forward and a few steps back. And the same goes for me. I could feel a noticeable difference, I could feel my energy returning and my sleep schedule becoming normalised, and then I released the course, and it was incredible, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Now moving forward, it won't be like that, because I've now made the course, but beforehand, I was building a course from scratch and learning how to market a course – and it was more work than I think I've ever done in my life. So my cortisol levels really depleted again, and I'd love to see where they were after the course, but with the SIBO treatment I just couldn't afford more testing on top.  I feel like they're getting back on track, but until my SIBO is fully resolved (and if there are any other infections, having them addressed too) I don't think my cortisol will be at optimum levels. I think it will be good, much better than it's been for most of my life, but the chronic SIBO and maybe an underlying mould infection will be keeping my body in a state of flight or fight, and I'll explain about that a bit later in the episode. The length of time it can take to recover from HPA axis really varies. I've seen studies showing it taking weeks to recover, whereas someone who is completely burnt out, like chronically fatigued, can't get out of bed most days, that can take much longer. I did have one client like that, and I consulted with Dr Jessica Drummond, and she said to me, you know, this could take two years to heal, and we're about a year in and she's waking up early and working, but she's not fully recovered yet. So, it's a journey and just know that your healing will really depend on what's happening in your life, in your body and the strategies you choose to implement, which will all become clear in time.  So please don't give up if it doesn't feel like it's working, because honestly, what I'm about to share we should ALL be doing every day, for optimum health and a healthy stress response and circadian rhythm, so it will be benefitting you, but it may take time for your cortisol levels to fully recover.  What I suggest is, if you can afford to do so, take a CAR test, and again, I've linked to some options in the show notes, and then take another test after three months or sooner, if you're feeling a difference, and then at another three months after that, just to see what your body is doing. You can usually tell, because you'll notice changes in your energy, sleep, when you wake up, etc. but it can be helpful and just interesting really, to see what your levels do in response.  So, what I'm going to share today is four of the key strategies, there are a couple more and there are some additional strategies and tools which can help, but to avoid overwhelm, I'm just going to provide you with some of the initial key steps. These may be enough on their own to heal your HPA axis or you may need to do some further work later on down the line, but these are some of the key foundations to get started.     1.  Number one is a nice and simple strategy, get sunlight to your eyes for 30 minutes as soon as possible in the mornings. Your body relies on patterns, to set its internal rhythms and it especially relies on light and dark. Your circadian rhythm is essentially controlled by day light, so getting light exposure for 30 minutes in the mornings, is going to tell your brain what time of day it is. The light changes throughout the day, and your cortisol levels will respond to that, so getting that morning light is going to really help to raise your cortisol levels to healthy levels. Over time, this continued pattern will basically reset your internal body clock, and your circadian rhythm will be able to set its pattern to this once more and your cortisol levels will start rising when they should.  You can get this light in a number of ways. It could be that you eat your breakfast in your garden in the mornings, if you have one, it could be that you sit by an open window to get ready, or you could go for a walk or commute to work ensuring you get lots of light along the way. As long as you are getting unfiltered light, so not through sunglasses or through a window, you're all good. And if you can't manage 30 minutes, just do as much as you can.    2. Number two is probably the most important one, but I appreciate is often the hardest one. Get at least 7.5 hours sleep, minimum, each night, whilst also going to bed and waking at the same time every day.  I know this sounds intense but let me explain why it's important. Your body needs regular sleep and wake times in order to know when to raise and when to lower cortisol. If you're going to bed at 1am, of course you'll struggle to go to bed at 9pm, because your cortisol isn't low enough yet as it's been programmed to lower around 1am, and if you have a flipped curve, as we discussed last week, where cortisol is rising at night, this training of a new sleep routine will be hard but will be essential to getting those cortisol levels down.  It's the same if your cortisol levels are low in the morning. If you're going to bed late, then the body won't be elevating your cortisol levels to their waking levels until about 8 hours later. Yes, they start rising before that, but not enough to wake you up, so if your alarm is going off and you've only had five or six hours sleep, your cortisol levels just won't be high enough.  So, if you have HPA axis dysfunction and your cortisol levels are low in the morning or generally low all the time, you can see why not having enough sleep or irregular waking hours is not going to help. The body needs to know when it should be elevating cortisol, and to do that, it needs a reliable pattern. We're essentially resetting your alarm clock here.  On top of that, the reason why our HPA axis is dysregulated is because of stress, and that comes from both physical and emotional stress, and a huge physical stressor on the body is lack of sleep. So, if we want to allow our HPA axis to regulate, we do need to invest in improving our sleep quality.  Now this is of course easier said than done, so that sleep routine piece is going to take practice in order for your body to get into a rhythm, and in most cases, it's going to take sleep hygiene practices. These are essentially strategies which help your cortisol levels to lower and melatonin levels to rise at night and improve your sleep quality. That's a whole other podcast, but I have linked to an Instagram post I did on sleep hygiene strategies and of course, if you want to dive deeper, I cover both HPA axis and sleep optimisation in my course, which you can get on the waiting list for now – I've put the link in my show notes. If you have insomnia, I understand and I go through cycles of this, which truthfully, I think this is down to a flipped cortisol curve because I so often default to living in a state of flight or fight, and I also truly think a large majority of insomnia cases are down to cortisol dysregulation. So, if this is you, rather than getting stressed about the sleep piece, perhaps look at working on all of the other areas, because they will start to regulate your cortisol levels, which over time, should help you to sleep.  And I would start teaching your body a pattern of the same sleep times and wake times, if possible, even if you're not getting to sleep, even if you're not trying to – just sitting in bed and practice calming, restorative techniques to help lower cortisol at night. Don't make the focus on getting to sleep, but rather on just lowering cortisol. So, a dark room, maybe candles or very soft lighting, breathing exercises, massage, listening to sleep stories (which you can now find on loads of meditation apps), just anything gentle or soothing and I hate to say this, but I would avoid watching TV, being on your phone or your laptop or computer like the plague. I know I'm often very careful with my language and say to do what works for you and to tailor each strategy, but there's really no way around this one. Blue light from your TV, phone and laptop will elevate cortisol and suppress melatonin and not only that, but they're also designed to engage, stimulate, and activate your brain, they're not designed to help you wind down.  If you need your phone for the meditation or sleep story, put it on night mode, ideally get an app that creates a red screen and wear blue light blocking glasses, and turn the brightness right down. Now finally, I know you're probably thinking – what about the weekend? Well, research has shown that we need this consistent pattern all day, every day, but I know that's not realistic, so I would just try to do your best. If you're out late at a birthday, it's a one off and I wouldn't stress about it. If you're at home and you just tend to stay up later at the weekends, see if you can curb that slightly and bring it closer to your normal bedtime. So, if you go to bed at 10pm normally, can you make it 11pm at the weekends? That kind of thing!   3. Number three is to eat at regular times and to balance your blood sugar. Just like with light exposure and sleep, eating at similar times can help give your body reliable patterns to set its internal rhythm to. So, if you can eat at roughly the same time each day, that'll help. This pattern is less important that the first two, so don't worry if sometimes you're travelling or something and can't eat at the same time, but roughly and as often as you can will be helpful. But what is really important is blood sugar regulation. You know I've talked about this so many times by now, but high and low blood sugar are stressors to the body and activate the HPA axis stress response. And even if your cortisol levels are low, it's still going to activate, it's just going to be pumping out adrenaline in cortisol's place and so the stress response will still be occurring, just of course, not as it should. And as long as we keep repeatedly stimulating that stress response, the HPA axis is going to stay dysregulated.  I've shared how to regulate your blood sugar in previous episodes, so I'll link to that for full details, but in short, we need to include protein, fat, fibre, and complex carbohydrates with every meal. And the general ratios for good blood sugar balance are 50% of your plate consisting of low starchy veg which provides you with fibre and complex carbohydrates, 25% of your plate consisting of protein, and the final 25% being split into healthy fats and starchier, yet complex carbohydrates. For fat, we want at least two golf ball size servings, so that could look like say about a third of a large avocado or two tablespoons of nuts and seeds, and with starchier complex carbs, it could be sweet potatoes or quinoa, or beans if you haven't got them as your protein source, and the serving size you have really depends on your energy needs. Of course, if you look at it in relation to the other ratios, it's not a huge serving, about a handful, but you might need to increase it if you have a very physical job or you're very active. Be guided by how you feel! If you find you're getting hungry soon after meals, first try increasing your fat and protein sizes.  The other key strategies for balancing your blood sugar are to not allow yourself to get starving or super hungry before you eat – if you're shaky or hangry, you've waited too long, and of course, try to keep refined carbohydrates, and added sugar to special occasions rather than everyday foods. If you want to understand this in more depth, have a listen to the episode I've linked to or a read of the articles I've added to the show notes, and my course also has an entire module on blood sugar balancing and its impact on endo and our hormones, and how to balance it.  I know the idea of reducing certain foods can be triggering, so if this feels that way, then focus more on the balancing of your plate and all the wonderful foods you can add in, and on eating regularly. Of course, if you have a history of an eating disorder it is always best to work with a nutritionist, coach or dietician who can guide you, as well as a mental health practitioner.    4. Number four is stress management. I know I said sleep was the most important, but actually it probably ties with stress management! Now in order for our HPA axis to recover and get back to some kind of normal regulation, we need to stop chronically activating it.  This means we need to learn how to move regularly out of flight or fight and manage our stress response, plus look at any areas that may be a source of stress that we can address. Of course, there's always going to be some element of stress in our lives, but we can change how we cope with and respond to stress, and even how we perceive stress. So firstly, let's begin with the simpler changes. We want to practice moving out of the stress response, called the flight or fight response, and move into the rest and digest response on a regular basis. This is particularly important if your default mode is anxiety, stress, worry, fear, etc. because for you guys, most of the time you're going to be in flight or fight, and that's not good for the body. You know the impact that chronic stress can have on the HPA axis and on pain, from our last episode on this, but being in a constant state of flight or fight has far reaching effects on our health.  Personally, I've found that I have a harder time trying to get my mind to calm down, but utilising stress relief methods for my body, practices that actually put us in rest or digest, then calms down my mind or at least takes me out of flight or fight, even if my mind is still ruminating.  So, some strategies which calm down the stress response and put us into rest or digest include: Massage, any kind, but I really like abdominal massage like the I Love You massage for IBS issues or Arvigo massage for IBS, period pain and endo in general. These are really great to do before bed because they put your body into rest and digest but also support digestion overnight. I've linked to a free I Love You massage on YouTube, and you can learn Arvigo massage in one Zoom session with a therapist and then practice on yourself. I've put the links to both in the show notes. Tapping, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique is an exercise where we tap on the body – on the side of the hands, the eyebrows, side of the eyes, under the eyes, below the nose, on the chin, on the collarbone, under the arms and on the head, whilst repeating certain statements. The practice combines acupressure, originating from Chinese medicine, with more Western psychology practices. It's now gathering a wealth of data behind it and has been shown to take us out of flight or fight and calm the stress response. It's also been shown to reduce anxiety, depression, and pain, and is even helpful with managing SIBO! You can learn tapping with a practitioner, or you can use an app or watch free YouTube videos online. I've linked to an app I like in the show notes.  Yoga Mindfulness meditation Walking in nature Mild to moderate exercise (such as Pilates, brisk walking, Zumba, etc.) Being in community   All of these have been shown to reduce stress levels, taking us out of flight or fight and into the rest and digest state. And what I also love about these is that they're a way to process trauma or emotion out of the body. Often if we don't want to think about something that is distressing to us, or we don't feel like we're safe to express it in the moment, for whatever reason, and we store that tension in our bodies, which can lead to hypersensitive nerves firing off danger signals, triggering pain because the brain thinks we're unsafe. But if we're able to physically work off some of that emotion, the physically damaging effects of that stress response can be reduced.  I've found it really helpful for me, being a health coach, it's of course sometimes a stressful job because I am looking after people's health and that in itself is a lot of pressure, but of course hearing about someone's pain or distress is emotional, so afterwards I can sometimes feel worried or anxious. So often I'll come off a call and I won't really know how to think my way out of what I'm feeling, I struggle to soothe myself with just my thoughts, so I tap, or I get on my rebounder for five minutes, or I do some mindful breathing, or I do some of my weightlifting exercises, which I do at intervals throughout the day. And I sort of imagine myself shedding the stress as I do it. Not all the time, but especially when I'm jogging on my rebounder, I sort of see myself running the stress off, and it really, truly helps. It's become a wonderful way for me to process my feelings.  The next area to look at with stress is whether you have any past trauma that needs working through. I've been talking a lot over on Instagram about the ways in which childhood trauma, known as Adverse Childhood Events or experiences dramatically increases our chances of developing chronic pain, autoimmune diseases and chronic conditions, and the pathway for most of these developments is through HPA axis dysregulation, which has occurred due to chronic stress. If we haven't worked through these past traumas, they can be subconsciously keeping us feeling unsafe, causing our bodies to be in a near constant state of flight or fight or easily stressed and activated.  This could be a whole topic in itself, so my recommendation to get started with this healing process is to read my Instagram post first, and then I've linked to a couple of books, podcasts, and therapy resources to help you work through the trauma in the show notes. We also need to look at how pain is triggering your stress response. Of course, the more stressed we are about our pain, the more unsafe our brain feels, and then the worse the pain gets, because it is our brain which creates pain and controls the intensity – and if the brain feels like there is a reason to make pain (so if the brain feels at threat or in danger in any way at all, and this could be as small as a stressful email) it will increase the pain levels.  So, changing the way we experience pain and perceive it is also important and of course, this and the above step about trauma can take some time. Don't worry about that, don't stress about having to get it all done. Put the easy practices in place, like maybe getting sunlight, trying tapping before bed, eating at the same times, balancing your blood sugar, etc. Put the practical bits in place and implement them over a time frame that feels manageable, and then when you feel strong enough to work on your pain perception or trauma, begin then. By this point, I would hope that you would have better cortisol levels and a more robust and healthy stress response, so you can actually better handle the work involved in these steps.  So anyway, that was a side note on how to approach this, but back to actually changing the way we perceive our pain… Again, this is a podcast in itself but there are a few therapies and approaches to help you to do this. You could try: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for pain Curable (which is a brain retraining app for chronic pain and I highly recommend it)  Mindfulness Based Pain Relief  And there are a couple of great books I recommend too, so I'm going to link to those in the show notes. Finally, we also want to look at physical stressors, but this where it can get a little complex. If you're dehydrated, if you're eating an inflammatory diet, if you're over-exercising, sleep deprived, or have SIBO or gut health infections (or any underlying infection for that matter), chronic inflammation or nutrient deficiencies, these will all be stressors on the body and can make it harder to recover from HPA axis dysfunction.  Now what I would say is that this is more advanced healing and I feel like for many people with HPA axis dysfunction, they need to have more energy and better cortisol levels to be able to take this stuff on, otherwise it can just feel too overwhelming, so I'm not going to dive into this today.  Instead, what I will say is to focus on a nutrient dense diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, so your body is well fed, is getting a good amount of nutrients and we aren't fuelling the inflammation fire. You can of course also add one or two supplements to help lower overall inflammation, which we know is generally a problem for most people with endo, being an inflammatory disease, and I talk about my favourite anti-inflammatory supplements in episodes 130 and 131.   Also make sure you're drinking enough. The calculation to work out what your body needs at a minimum is to drink half your body weight in fluid ounces. So, you take your weight in pounds, so say someone was 100lbs, then you halve it, so we have 50lbs and then you just replace the pounds with fluid ounces, we're not converting, just swapping. And if you're very active, you'll need more than that, this is just your minimum. I have linked to a water calculator in the show notes, which helps you to work out how much water you need if you're very active or breast feeding, or something like that.  You could also add some essential basic supplements too, like a multivitamin and minerals supplement and omega 3 fatty acids, to ensure you're covering the basics. Now of course, if you're not absorbing your food well due to gut health issues, or you're deficient in a nutrient, these may not be enough, but again, I'm just covering the foundations.   If in time you feel ready to get some thorough nutrient status tests and gut health tests, or to explore anything else you think may be going on in your body, of course, that will help, but I want to emphasise these foundations first, because they can make such a difference and can give you the strength for the bigger stuff.  So, there's the initial four steps. And what I wanted to emphasise, what should be underpinning all of this, is joy and fun. If this is stressing you out, then it won't be helpful. So, we need to tailor the healing in a way that will make you feel pleasant feelings and that allows you to have fun or enjoy yourself, in whatever way that is.  So, for example, instead of seeing a 10.30pm bedtime as a curfew, how can you make it feel luxurious? Can you turn your evening routine into a min spa retreat each night with a candle, an abdominal massage and calming music before bed? How can you spend more time with loved ones who you enjoy being around, in a way that feels joyful and nourishing to you? Can you go to restorative exercise classes with friends or have regular catch ups, so you feel supported and connected? Could you do things you enjoy more often, like heading to the cinema or doing fun activities? Are there things you stopped doing that brought you joy, which you can bring back into your life? Could you take a cooking course to learn how to make delicious but healthier desserts, so you can feed your body and taste buds, or could you get some new cookbooks to learn how to eat more fruits and veggies? Or maybe, if you don't like cooking and can afford it, can you try a meal delivery service which offers you not just healthy meals, but more time for you to relax?  Basically, whatever it is, make this healing path feel good. If it feels stressful, take a step back and think about how you can make this process more joyful. My course, Live and Thrive with Endo is opening for enrolment again soon. Join the waiting list now to access early bird pricing and special bonuses. Sign up here. This episode is sponsored my free workshop Creating a Roadmap for Endo Healing in 2021: Overcome Overwhelm, Identify Your Core Endo Challenges, Learn the 8 Key Pillars of Healing and Set Goals and Next Steps So You Can Begin Managing Endometriosis with Confidence and Clarity and take action after the workshop. Sign up 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes Creating a Roadmap for Endo Healing in 2021 Live and Thrive with Endo course CAR tests https://regeneruslabs.com/products/cortisol-awakening-response https://www.letsgetchecked.com/gb/en/home-cortisol-test/ Light https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699216/ https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm Blood sugar https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/reduce-fatigue-endometriosis-symptoms-and-oestrogen-dominance https://endometriosis.net/living/diet-sugar Sleep https://www.instagram.com/p/CIBrBCmDMuj/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12941057/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12220314/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10849238/ Massage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTOkKVlBHzk https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/arvigo-massage-for-endometriosis https://www.arvigotherapy.com/team-members https://selfhacked.com/blog/32-ways-to-stimulate-your-vagus-nerve-and-all-you-need-to-know-about-it/ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00082/full https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095496418300372 Tapping https://www.thetappingsolution.com https://www.thetappingsolution.com/science-research/ Yoga https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768222/ https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/yoga-could-slow-the-harmful-effects-of-stress-and-inflammation-2017101912588 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111147/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15750381/ Walking in nature https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/about/sciencehttps://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/about/science Exercise https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27956050/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013452/ Mindfulness https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272735813000731?via%3Dihub Community https://scholar.harvard.edu/marianabockarova/files/tend-and-befriend.pdf Trauma https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJvnf1BYum/ https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/call-of-the-wild/ https://cmbm.org/thetransformation/ SelfHealers SoundBoard podcast Sex Birth Trauma Pain resources This Might Hurt Film Tell Me About Your Pain podcast https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pelvic-Pain-Hurts-Adriaan-Louw/dp/0985718684 The Way Out by Alan Gordon Curable Water https://www.hydrationforhealth.com/en/hydration-tools/hydration-calculator/

Chancellor Hance tells someone, "If you are wrong, my next shot will be aimed at you."

Today's episode is all about probiotics which are suitable for SIBO and endo related IBS. Now of course, this is a huge topic and there are so many different probiotics out there, which can often just get confusing and overwhelming, so with this podcast my intention is for it to be succinct and easy to digest, with a smaller array of probiotics to start exploring on your initial steps to gut healing.  Unfortunately, I think over the years probiotics have been a little misunderstood, and of course, we're still learning so much about the gut microbiome (which is the good gut bugs found in our large intestine) that this area of research is still developing.  But regardless, what often happens is that we're led to believe that we should just take a broad-spectrum probiotic, meaning it has lots of different strains in it – and that we should take this if we have gut health issues, and that will sort the problem out. Unfortunately, that's really not always the case and for our community, I would exercise caution when choosing probiotics.  We know that many people with endo have IBS related symptoms, and we now know that the majority of IBS is actually caused by SIBO – which stands for small intestine bacterial overgrowth, a condition where normal gut bacteria grow in the small intestine, rather than the large intestine. The small intestine is designed for the majority of our nutrient absorption, it wasn't intended to house lots of bacteria, so this overgrowth damages the small intestine and our ability to absorb nutrients, but this bacteria also ferments our food, making gases that are harmful for us and cause symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea and abdominal pain. And we also now have recent research showing that up to 80% of endo patients have SIBO, so quite possibly, your IBS symptoms are largely down to SIBO. If you'd like to understand why SIBO occurs so frequently in the endo population, I've linked to some of my podcasts and articles on the subject in the show notes. Unfortunately, when you have SIBO, taking probiotics can often make the situation worse, especially if you also have histamine intolerance, which I've talked about multiple times on the show already, and I've linked to a couple of episodes about this in the show notes, if you'd like to learn more. But if you think about it, if we're adding bacteria to a small intestine full of bacteria already, we're just going to be adding more fuel to the fire.  So, when it comes to trying probiotics for SIBO, we have to proceed with caution. Some people with SIBO just can't tolerate probiotics at all at first, so their symptoms tend to get worse, but often, they've tried a couple of probiotics with lots of strains, and that could be the problem.  Instead, when it comes to SIBO clients or clients with very sensitive stomachs, we start with specific strains, so a probiotic with literally only one type of bacteria, and then we can build up over time. That way, if a person reacts badly to that probiotic, we know straight away that that particular strain is not well tolerated at this stage in time.  So today, what I wanted to do was to offer you three probiotic options, which have been researched for specific IBS symptoms that are often reported by endo patients, and are in most cases, safe for SIBO and are also safe for histamine intolerance, which is very common with endo. If you do have SIBO, I want to state it's best to proceed with extra caution, as everyone's tolerance is different and without knowing exactly what types of bacteria are overgrowing in your small intestine specifically, we can't guarantee that we won't be adding to the load.  As always, what works for one person won't necessarily work for another, so it's very important that you tailor to your needs and approach this with an open mind – if these guys don't work for you, it doesn't mean all the other strains won't either. I've only listed three to keep this simple, but there are a couple of others that are safe for SIBO and histamine, not many, but a few, so do some extra research if you find these aren't the right ones for you.  I also want to be clear that probiotics aren't a quick fix. If there's an imbalance in the microbiome, SIBO, a parasite, an infection, an allergy, or intolerance, we need to address those because otherwise we're just sort of pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom, so whilst probiotics are part of the healing picture, they're supportive and won't necessarily fix or treat the root cause if it's as extensive as a parasite or SIBO.  And finally, please let your GP know when starting with any new supplement regime.  1.      Number one is lactobacillus plantarum 299v. Lactobacillus plantarum 299v is great for bloating and general IBS symptoms, so loose stools, pain, cramping, diarrhea, constipation, etc.  In one large study of 214 patients, 78.1% who took l.plantarum 299v rated their symptom improvement as good or excellent, in comparison with just 8.1% of those who took a placebo. The study showed that l.plantarum was particularly effective for bloating and abdominal pain.  Additionally, two meta-analyses (which are large reviews of all the studies) have proved the effectiveness of lactobacillus strains on IBS symptoms, including diarrhea and loose stools, but generally, they've been shown in multiple studies to be effective for all IBS symptoms. If you're concerned about the reaction of l.plantarum 299v on SIBO, l.plantarum was also included in a multi-strain probiotic used to treat SIBO, which was found to be more effective than one of the commonly used SIBO antibiotics, metronidazole.  In my training with world leading SIBO doctors, Dr Allison Siebecker and Dr. Jacobi, they both recommend l.plantarum 299v for symptomatic relief, but of course, naturally say to proceed with caution as they can't guarantee a patient won't react.  I also just want to be clear here that if you want to try and treat SIBO with probiotics alone, it's not yet an industry standard, more research needs to be done and you would need to work with a practitioner who could provide you with the exact strains and take you through the treatment. But as it stands right now, antimicrobials, the elemental diet and antibiotics are the gold standard of SIBO treatment and I don't know many practitioners who are attempting to use probiotics alone for SIBO. So if you'd like to try l.plantarum 299v, start low and increase gradually over time – don't rush to full dose, maybe stagger it over a few weeks. In my training with Dr Nirala Jacobi, she recommends taking l.plantarum 299v at a dose of one capsule, twice a day for SIBO related IBS symptoms. I've linked to a few brands in the show notes, and of course, if you don't have SIBO, you can just follow the label dose. Now, some probiotics actually increase histamines in the gut, but l.plantarum 299v should be safe as it's been found to be histamine neutral, so it doesn't raise histamines and actually, some strains of l.plantarum actually reduce histamines. I couldn't find any research on l.plantarum 299v reducing histamine specifically, but it lowers inflammation, supports gut health as we've discussed and at the very least, doesn't add to the histamine load.  2. Number 2 is saccromyces boullardi. This is actually a yeast, rather than a bacteria, but it's not a “bad” yeast – it's not going to cause candida to overgrow. In fact, it actually helps to reduce candida and keep it at healthy levels.  But it's also wonderful for aiding with leaky gut healing, and as you guys probably know by now, leaky gut is super common with SIBO, is a strong risk factor for developing autoimmune diseases, causes chronic inflammation and is normally a root cause of histamine intolerance. I've linked to a couple of episodes on leaky gut in the show notes.  In my training with Dr Siebecker, she also recommends saccromyces boullardi for abdominal pain and diarhhea, and it's been found in multiple studies to be effective for various types of diarhhea. It also improves immune function, by increasing the production of one of our essential antibodies, called immunoglobulin A . IgA lines the intestines and other surfaces in the body like the nostrils, and is often low in patients with SIBO, and when it's low, we're more vulnerable to bad bacteria, parasites, viruses, etc. because IgA is normally one of our first line of defence against these baddies.  It also binds lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which are toxins released from pathogenic (bad) bacteria, gram-negative bacteria and often, the bacteria found in SIBO. LPS has been found in the pelvic cavity of people with endo and has been shown to contribute to the growth of endometriosis. IgA binds LPS and helps to eliminate it from the body, so there's less of it to leak through out gut, and into our blood stream and pelvic cavity. I talk about this in a couple of episodes on leaky gut, so will share in the show notes.  Because s.boulardii can improve the immune system and heal leaky gut, it can also have a very positive effect on reducing intestinal and full body inflammation, making it helpful for endo, which we know is an inflammatory disease. The dose actually varies depending on the brand, so either follow the brand instructions or if you have SIBO, you can follow some of the brand and dose recommendations in the show notes, which are from my training with Dr Nirala Jacobi. Again, as always, try with caution and slowly build up to see how you respond, especially if you have SIBO. 3. Number three is lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. This is recommended in my SIBO practitioners course with Dr Allison Siebecker for diarhhea and has been shown to be helpful for various types of diarrhea, from acute watery diarhhea to travellers' diarhhea, and diarhhea from antibiotic use.  But it's also used in SIBO treatment by Dr Jacobi because it's been shown in studies to aid with constipation, abdominal discomfort, and leaky gut healing and in general, has been shown in research to be effective for IBS. I will quickly say though, that from my understanding, it appears that the research for constipation is a little inconsistent and needs further investigation and the leaky gut evidence is mainly based on animal studies at present.  Whilst more research needs to be done on this area specifically, it's also been found to be helpful with histamine tolerance, as it lowers histamines receptors and allergy receptors in cells, so in the simplest of terms, allergens and histamines can't lock onto cells to cause a reaction, and this calms down inflammation.   Generally, the dose from my training with Dr Nirala Jacobi for SIBO is 1 capsule twice a day. If you don't have SIBO, you can just follow the label dose. So that's it! Please be sure to try one probiotic at a time, and really, give it at least a month or so before adding in another.   I hope this episode was useful to you, and if you'd like to learn more about gut health with endo and you're interested in accessing some support from me on your journey, you can now sign up to the waiting list for my online course, Live and Thrive with Endo. If you're looking for free resources on gut health, I would start with the articles and episodes I've linked in the show notes.   I would love to hear if you try any of these and how you respond. Please feel free to let me know on Instagram! Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. My course, Live and Thrive with Endo is opening for enrolment again soon. Join the waiting list now to access early bird pricing and special bonuses. Sign up here. This episode is sponsored by my free guide ‘A Natural Pain Relief Tool Kit for Endometriosis'. This four page guide includes evidence based and effective remedies which you can use at home to reduce your pain with endo. Download your copy 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 hello@thisendolife.com 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 Show Notes SIBO The SIBO, Endometriosis and Interstitial Cystitis Connection wth Dr. Allison Siebecker How To Treat SIBO with Dr Allison Siebecker Understanding The Endometriosis Belly, Part 3: SIBO Symptoms How Do You Know When to Test for SIBO? How to Test for SIBO at Home   Histamine intolerance Histamine Intolerance 101 Dr. Becky Campbell https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/strategies-for-lowering-histamine-reducing-allergies-endometriosis https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/association-between-endometriosis-allergies Endometriosis, SIBO, Interstitial Cystitis and Allergies: The Histamine Connection  L.Plantarum 299v research https://meridian.allenpress.com/jfp/article-abstract/80/10/1682/199965/Degradation-of-Histamine-by-Lactobacillus?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21381407/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3316997/ https://www.optibacprobiotics.com/uk/professionals/latest-research/general-health/which-probiotic-for-histamine-intolerance https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3419998/ https://journals.lww.com/jcge/Abstract/2017/04000/Probiotics_for_Preventing_and_Treating_Small.4.aspx https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v14/i17/2650.htm    L.Plantarum 299v brands Jarrow Ideal Bowel Support 299V, at one caps twice a day (Dr. Jacobi) Metagenics Ultra Flora Intensive Care, at one caps twice a day (Dr. Jacobi) CAUTION: If looking for your own brands to buy, avoid probiotics containing probiotics, as these may worsen SIBO symptoms. For a list of ingredients to be mindful of when choosing probiotics, see Dr Allison Siebecker's handout here.   Leaky Gut https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/endometriosis-leaky-gut https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/-the-endometriosis-belly https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/understanding-the-endometriosis-belly-part-2 https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/root-causes-of-bloating-endometriosis   LPS https://www.thisendolife.com/this-endolife-podcast-episodes/endometriosis-leaky-gut https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4519769/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2327198/ https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/pdf/S1931-3128(16)30161-5.pdf   S.Boulardi research https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6375115/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26316791/ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/immunoglobulin-a-deficiency https://www.optibacprobiotics.com/professionals/latest-research/gut-health/probiotics-best-for-candida https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18584523/ https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/11/8/999/3044359 https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v14/i17/2650.htm   S.Boulardi brands and doses Klaire Labs Saccharomyces boulardi, at two caps taken twice a day (Dr. Jacobi) Invivo Bio.Me S. boulardii, at two caps daily Bioceuticals SB Floractiv, at two caps taken twice a day (Dr. Jacobi) CAUTION: If looking for your own brands to buy, avoid probiotics containing probiotics, as these may worsen SIBO symptoms. For a list of ingredients to be mindful of when choosing probiotics, see Dr Allison Siebecker's handout here.   L.rhamnosus GG research https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18813028/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21390145/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30040527/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4239510/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22946635/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15756221/ https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v14/i17/2650.htm   L.rhamnosus GG brands and doses Nutrigold L. Rhamnosus GG, label dose (caution: contains brown rice flour) Metagenics, Ultra Flora LGG® 60, at one cap twice a day (Dr. Jacobi) CAUTION: If looking for your own brands to buy, avoid probiotics containing probiotics, as these may worsen SIBO symptoms. For a list of ingredients to be mindful of when choosing probiotics, see Dr Allison Siebecker's handout here.

Matt Walsh reads through a children's book aimed at exposing children to LGBTQ terms like bisexual, pan sexual, drag queens and more.

On Culture Friday, John Stonestreet answers questions from students at the World Journalism Institute; Sarah Schweinsberg reviews The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Finding You; and on Word Play, George Grant explains all the ways our tongues tend to trip us up. Plus: a 12-year-old high school graduate, and the Friday morning news. Support The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donate. Additional support comes from the ESV Study Bible, featuring a wide array of study tools perfect for serious readers of God’s Word. More at crossway.org/world. From Maranatha Baptist University—offering online programs from high school to graduate school. mbu.edu/odl. And from Peacemaker Ministries. Equipping and assisting Christians to respond to conflict biblically. peacemakerministries.org