Okay, so it has been well over two weeks since doing the “big detox”. To recap, I did the Colonic on the Monday, did three days of liquids and then did the Liver Flush day on the Thursday.

Here is a video for you on my thoughts:

My previous blog post might also give you more details on it.

Here is where you can find all the information on it:

http://www.loveyourliver.co/lyl/bio.asp

The Free Liver Flush Instruction Booklet – exactly what is involved. Please note: you don’t have to buy it from these guys. You can find it all at the health store

It is really a personal thing. I wanted to do something concrete to really feel a difference for my body. It did give me that but I don’t know how it will impact you, on a personal level.

Love to hear your thoughts. Have you done it? Curious to try it? Did I scare you to never want to try it?

Over a year ago I went to see a “Westernised” Chinese Doctor – when I say “westernised”, I mean that she studied Chinese Medicine but wasn’t chinese and didn’t grow up there or learn the methods through history. From the onset of meeting her, I didn’t particularly like her. She was very aggressive in her approach and when I told her that I had Endometriosis and that was my reason for seeing her, her response really frightened me and to be honest, I didn’t want to hear anything further she had to say after that…..I can be a little sensitive with certain words, as you can appreciate!

Well, she indicated that Endometriosis, if left untreated, would eventually lead to cancer. Either Endometrial cancer or breast cancer. Nobody particularly likes to hear the word “cancer” and for me, hearing that word, with the close relationship it had with my dad and other family members, it really just made me want to run a mile away.

I know it was silly of me, but perhaps I just wasn’t ready to listen to her. Her approach was perhaps a little strong but the reality is, that there was actually some truth to her theory. …..unfortunately.

What I am realising is that Endometriosis is directly attributed to Oestrogen Dominance. I wrote an article a few months ago about Oestrogen Dominance and that it might be the cause of Endometriosis. I don’t necessarily think it is the direct cause, however it might be the reason the Endometriosis becomes more wide-spread in some of us, versus others. It could be the reason it “spreads” and will continue to spread. Naturally, there are heaps of factors that could cause Endometriosis to proliferate but Oestrogen Dominance does make sense.

See, Oestrogen Dominance is actually quite common in our lives now. Most women probably suffer from some degree of Oestrogen Dominance. We become dominant by some of these factors:

• Our Environment just contains more Oestrogenic mimicking properties – called Xenoestrogens.
• We gain more Oestrogen as we age.
• We are not able to expel the high levels of Oestrogen properly through our livers. Even taking just low doses of drugs, for headaches or anti-biotics will affect the liver.
• Our foods contain Oestrogenic properties.
• If we have been on the contraceptive pill, this will often attribute to Oestrogen Dominance.

Excess Oestrogen actually creates an environment in our bodies for cell growth. Now, this is wonderful, when we are teenagers and we want to grow, get bigger boobs etc but certainly not in our 20′s or in our later years.

The problem is when this cell growth occurs in areas we don’t want it – like in our abdominal cavity, our breasts etc. This includes Endometriosis cells but could then lead to other cell growth in other areas….yes, cancers in the breast and ovaries etc. It does depend hugely on the level of Oestrogen and how much out of proportion it is to the other hormones in the body. See, the body work like a ying, yang with hormones. Kind of like a see-saw. This is especially true with Progesterone and Oestrogen. We don’t want low progesterone, as this will create high Oestrogen. We don’t want high Oestrogen as this will create low Progesterone. So, though the expression is termed as “Oestrogen Dominance”, it doesn’t mean we are only high in Oestrogen. It could mean that we are simply low on Progesterone. The see-saw needs to sit in the middle and both Oestrogen and Progesterone need to be on the same level.

Unfortunately, it is quite “normal” for us to suffer from PMS, which is an early indicator of Oestrogen Dominance. If we then leave this for an extended period of time and contribute to the excessive Oestrogen through our diet, our environment and by not looking after our liver, the situation gets worse. Some women develop cysts, (PCOS) others get Fibroids and obviously our Endometriosis cells develop more. If we then leave this imbalance and add more Oestrogenic elements to create even further imbalances, then it could go to that nasty place….cancer. What makes it take that jump from one to the other and why the body chooses different forms of “expression” to grow in, is anyone’s guess. Unfortunately, this realisation of Oestrogen Dominance directly attributing to cancers is so well documented now, it is scary!

If you really want to get into this stuff yourself, you can watch a Video by David Wolfe, which is quite indepth but really explains it heaps! http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/Articles.asp?ID=383

Thing is, Oestrogen Dominance is actually fairly easy to test and to treat ….completely naturally. Often we don’t realise that so many of the issues we struggle with are in fact caused by Oestrogen Dominance:

• Sore boobs
• Migraines
• Moodiness
• Feeling tired and exhausted all the time
• Depression
• Struggle to lose weight around our hips and thighs
• Infertility
• Poor menstruation or heavy menstruation

Imagine how different your life would be if you didn’t suffer from any of these anymore?

Here are some treatment options, I will be exploring further over the next few weeks:

• Progesterone Creams. What to get. What is really “natural” and how to buy the correct one.
• Progesterone Drops. I discovered this new way of treatment through a book I am reading, which is much more effective, cheaper and is easier to use.
• Treating the liver to not only flush out the excess but also convert the Xenoestrogens correctly, allowing them to “leave” rather than being absorbed into the body further.

Here’s some things we can do in the meantime. 

1. Get our hormone levels checked. Check for Estradiol mainly and how this compares to Progesterone.

2. Reduce our Xenoestrogen and high Oestrogen food consumption.

3. Focus on healing your liver with some liver supplements or maybe a liver cleanse. I promise to do the liver flush video tomorrow

If this is really the key to all of our issues with endo growing, then I think we can get this under control fairly easily! That would be cool, wouldn’t it?

Do you have any experience with any of these suggestions? Have you tried a progesterone cream? Did it work? What was it?

Our lives have become so focused on material possessions. We surround ourselves with things that are made of plastic, steel and various man-made objects. Our lives become an endless race to gain more of these material possessions which are hollow in their meaning and their status.

Have you ever noticed how you cannot feel stressed, when you are simply sitting along a lake or a beach? When you walk through mountains or just to the park? There is something soothing and fulfilling about nature that calms our minds and our spirits.

Nature is such a wonder and yet we fail to recognise its true healing powers on our bodies. We are so focused on healing through cutting things out, eradicating or taking things that will heal us when perhaps all we need is to stop and slow down and recognise the nature that is all around us. Nature holds within it the wisdom that we seek and need to learn to heal our bodies.

Whether it is meditation or a simple walk, allow yourself to soak in nature and it will soothe that inner most tormented voice. Allow it to slow your mind and relax your body.

The answers you seek for healing lie in the very essence of nature and your own bodies ability to heal. Allow it to do this with nature and it will bless you with many years to come. Seek out pure and wondrous sources of nature for healing.

Here are 5 tips from nature that can teach you to heal:

• What you put in is what you get out.

If you give your plants the best soil, water and air, you are going to have a fast growing beautiful plant. The same applies to your own body. Give yourself the best healing foods and you will also grow and heal.

• Watch the cycles of life and adapt to fit into them.

Many of natures creatures create life and die in much shorter cycles than we do. Watch them and enjoy them as they are created all around you.

• Learn to breathe

Breathing calms the mind and the body. Take it in. Learn to breather deeply and properly, inhaling the energy of oxygen.

• Take from nature’s natural sources of healing

Herbs, foods and water all provide the essence of what we need to heal. Learn and try them as within them you will find many wonders.

• Don’t take life so seriously and just enjoy this moment

Perhaps it is in our nature to always worry about the future or the past. I don’t see animals worrying about these things. We shouldn’t either. Make the most of this day, right now.

I have always felt that nature gave me the real answers to healing myself from Endometriosis. Once we understand and appreciate the complexity of our bodies and how they are designed to survive and heal, we can find ways to do that.

When was the last time you enjoyed just hanging out in a park or took a walk in the forest? Even just lying on a bed of grass can have amazing effects!

Lap it up and enjoy it. It is such a big part of where we have come from!

When we think of our immune system, we generally think we need to add stuff into our diet or use some kind of supplement to get it working better. It is like we are seeking “armour” for the body. This was my thinking too and for years I have taken all sorts of immune boosters, thinking that it would give my body strength to fight off infections and fight off disease better. I tried all of the supplements I could find at the health shop – Echinacea, Olive Leaf Extract, Bee Pollens and Royal Jelly, Goji Berries and Cocoa Powder. Immune boosting and fights off those free radicals! Right? Thing is, it didn’t seem to do that much. I still struggled with allergies every season. I still felt the cold and caught the flu easily. I still got really sick if I caught a stomach bug going around. It was frustrating and I couldn’t understand why. I thought perhaps these supplements simply don’t work or they just weren’t strong enough. Things is, they were expensive and I certainly didn’t want to continue taking them, if they weren’t putting a dent in my immune boosting goal.

Here’s the thing. I knew that I needed to boost my immune system. It is kinda obvious, even before I knew that Endometriosis was directly linked to poor immune function! Ultimately, it is like a protective layer, that we want to have around us, regardless of whether we are super healthy or not.

The other side of it was that I always felt “weak” in having Endometriosis. I always thought that my body was just “susceptible” to things. I had always been told that my body was just “not as strong as everyone else” and that I should just accept that I would be weaker and more sensitive. Well, you can imagine that this did not sit well with me, so I wanted to get that immunity up and make sure I could be strong and fight off infection!

Well, here’s the funny thing. I was adding and adding and I am sure most of it was just going down the toilet!

What I really need to do was take stuff out! Here’s what I have just discovered…..

My body was constantly fighting…..on the inside. I had a number of things going on in there, that I had no idea about! I had Candida which would have thrown out my bodies natural balance and created a hostile environment, which it was constantly fighting. I also had mercury in my mouth and gum disease, which was a permanent infection my body was trying to deal with each and every day. To top it all off, my body was not able to get out all the toxins and bad stuff which was accumulating in my system!

It was like my body was a really busy restaurant. It had all these very important things to do. Running around sorting out stuff, making sure the basics were sorted. Meantime, in the back, there was a whole load of rubbish. Old rubbish from the whole weeks worth of left-overs thrown out. The whole back area was just full of it! It was almost impossible to function and the smell started to affect the place!

This is the best way I could describe it but essentially, our bodies have means of excreting waste – much like having rubbish in a restaurant. When we don’t expel that waste properly and effectively, it mounts up and all this becomes toxic in the body. The body is then just fighting on a constant basis. It doesn’t matter how much you give the body, it simply can’t absorb it – there is too much junk in the way!

It has been a week since my Liver Flush and Colonics and I must tell you the difference is amazing! I have the most amazing digestion – sorry but it really is amazing! I don’t remember a time when things were so easy and moved so well! I feel lighter and there is no bloating or even farting! I feel cleansed. My insides feel light and my mind is incredibly clear and focused.

I don’t believe we truly absorb all the nutrients we feed our bodies when we have all these toxins still in our guts. It is like a giant wall which these supplements have to try and climb over.

The other thing is, that the immune system will simply not cope if there is so much toxicity sitting in the body. It is why our first point of focus for healing our bodies should be the digestive system.

For the last 2years, my digestion was erratic. I had good days and bad days. Most of the time my digestion was on the “soft” side. It was messy – sorry ladies but I know many of you have these conditions so I have to be graphic to help you I just lived with it. I lived with the farting and the bloating from my poor digestion and though I had done a complete 360 degree change on my diet, it didn’t seem to make a huge difference to my poor digestion. I tried all the supplements too – Colostrum, Psyllium husks, Probiotics, Black Walnut, Slippery Elm Powder, Charcoal, Glutamine Powder. Some worked a little but inevitably their effectiveness would slow down after a few days. It was frustrating and I really thought I had something serious going on in there! Some nasty bacteria invasion or something….

Well, I guess it is like a dirty kitchen. It looks scary when you first look at it and there just seems to be so much to clean up but once you get into it and give it a thorough cleansing, it eventually is all sparkling and can be all new again. The same is true with our bowels. They just need a good clean. For some people, the above mentioned supplements might work perfectly. I know they were all suggestions by Naturopaths that I had tried over the years. For me, I needed a more “deep cleanse” and the colonic did that…..more than I would have believed until now!

So, if you are having immune issues, bowel issues and you are not eliminating as well as you should….really consider the colonic. If you are doing “okay” on your digestive front, then maybe try some of the above mentioned supplements. Point is, your digestion needs to work and it needs to work brilliantly! Without it, you are not going to absorb all these fabulous supplements you are giving your body, the wonderful food you are giving your body or be able to have the immune system you need to feel better with endo.

How do you know if your digestion is working well?

• You need to be going a minimum of once a day. Ideally we should be going after each meal.
• Things should be firm, come out clean and you shouldn’t have to push too hard to get them out.
• It shouldn’t smell bad.
• You shouldn’t be experiencing flatulence or bloating after a meal.

Here’s some things that good digestion also aids, apart from your strong immune system:

• Reduces IBS, bloating and all that pressure you feel down there, pushing on endo!
• Your skin will become clearer. Poor digestion = bad skin.
• Your allergies will go down or even disappear - mine are totally gone!
• You will lower the Oestrogen in the body – it finally has a means to get out!
• You will lose weight.
• You can finally absorb all those nutrients from the foods you are eating and the supplements you are taking.

I am very excited as Sarah (the lady from the Colonic) has agreed to do a video from her Studio next week. She is going to share heaps more information about the health of our bowels and how this affects our health and most importantly our healing!

What is your digestion like? Do you dread going to the toilet? Does it hurt? Do you feel tired after you’ve been? Does it make your endo pain worse? Do you feel like your are just “dirty” on the inside?

To be honest, I struggle with this topic. There is so much misinformation when it comes to plant based hormones! It has almost tormented me since I started on this quest to overcome Endometriosis. It also depends so much on our age, our environment, our foods and our hereditary line!

Plant based hormones are also called Phytoestrogens or Isoflavones. The most common supplements or foods are Dong Quai, Red Clover, Soy Products, Chaste Berry, Pomegranate and Wild Yam.

There seems to be two different sets of information.

1. The Pro-Phytoestrogen Studies

The idea here is that we should consume Plant Based Hormones in a supplement form or as a food in large doses, to overcome Endometriosis. The theory behind this is that we replace the excess Oestrogen in our body by “fooling” the receptors in the body. Essentially, there is a receptor in the body which accepts the Oestrogen we have. When that receptor is “full” it is believed that it will no longer utilise the remaining Oestrogen in the body. The theory behind plant based oestrogens (phytoestrogens) is that we replace the Oestrogens in the body with plant based oestrogens and essentially fill these receptors with plant based oestrogens. As they are less potent oestrogens, this is apparently going to make our Oestrogen levels, become less.

This applies to Xenoestrogens aswell. Xenoestrogens are oestrogens which come from sources in our environment or from foods which are considered “bad” oestrogens. They exist in the contraceptive pill, meats, dairy products and from plastics.

This theory is often recommended to women who suffer from Menopausal symptoms as a means to level out PMS symptoms. I think this is why it is often recommended to Endometriosis sufferers too, as we generally suffer from Oestrogen dominance.

2. The Anti-Phytoestrogen Studies

Then we get the other side of the coin that illustrates that ALL phytoestrogens, Xenoestrogens and Oestrogens are creating an overload in our bodies and should be reduced or removed as much as possible.  The idea is that due to our “new” environment we naturally absorb more Xenoestrogens and Phytoestrogens, without even realising it. They all add up and ultimately create Oestrogen dominance in our bodies.

Some things that have an Oestrogenic effect:

• Plastic. Everything you eat and drink out of plastic will leave some Oestrogens in your body.
• Coffee. The Xanthines found in coffee are shown to mimick estrogen and cause an increase in oestrogen levels. It also slows the liver processes causing it to reduce effectiveness of flushing out excess Oestrogens.
• Pomegranate Juice.
• Lavender and Tea Tree Oil
• Licorice and Hops
• Flaxseeds/Flaxseed oil
• Sesame Seeds/Sesame Oil
• Hops – used in beer.

I would really like to understand the two different theories better. Personally, I have never felt comfortable with taking plant based hormones or any hormones, since going natural – I know the pill is not comparable but after that, I really had enough of all the side-effects!

I have always opted to focus my healing on the liver, which regulates and flushes out excess of ANY hormone. However, I can see that perhaps our bodies just have way too much to flush out and perhaps we do need to place a hand of balance in all of this and try and reduce the Oestrogen load.

11:45pm An update!

It is late here – nearly midnight and the phytoestrogen theories have been running around in my head all afternoon! I finally cracked it though!

Plant Based Hormones will only provide us with temporary relief. Essentially what happens is, the receptor cells get filled and we feel better for a short while as the less potent estrogens take over. If we then continue to feed the body with these Phytoestrogens, an imbalance will occur and we will develop an excess of Phytoestrogens. It is kinda replacing one lesser devil with another.

So, we should really avoid all plant based estrogens and rather focus on increasing our Progesterone – that is a whole other blog post.

Feel free to share your experiences with any of them

So after my meeting with my Naturopath and her telling me that there were still toxins trying to find their way out of my body, I decided that perhaps I should eat more raw food – just for a little while, until I got more toxins out.

I went to the library and got out a raw food book, bought a raw food ebook online and got stuck into it all. I have kinda been toying with the idea of eating more raw food for a while now and I guess this was kinda the motivation to actually do it. As it so happened, I also managed to find a dehydrator for $20 from a lady selling one through the supermarket notice board! Bargain! – not that you need a dehydrator to make this dish

So, I really didn’t feel like making boring old salads because to be honest, I didn’t need to get a whole bunch of books to do that! So, I went for a recipe I had never done before – Raw Pasta! I know it sounds really strange and I really had little hope for it…

Here’s the process:

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Cucumber
• 1 Whole Courgette/Zucchini
• 2 Big Carrots
• 2 Whole Fresh Tomatoes
• 1 Red Capsicum/Red Pepper
• 6 Sundried Tomatoes
• A sprinkling of herbs
• Some lemon or lime juice
• 4 Pre-soaked Dates
• Mushrooms, capsicum slices or any other toppings you like. Maybe even more tomatoes . I love herbs so I used fresh coriander. Parsley would also be good.

This is the fun part! Making the pasta!

If you don’t already have one, get yourself a Spiralizer – really cool device that actually makes pasta! You can buy one through Amazon. Get the Benriner Cook Helper Slicer - it’s the best option. Here’s a video on how to use it and what they look like. You can just use a peeler to make long strands of pasta but the long strands of vegetable pasta are so much cooler!

Then Spiralise the Cucumber, Courgettes and Carrots into a bowl. Mix them up so you get the different colour combinations.

Then take the Fresh Tomatoes, Sundried tomatoes, red pepper, lemon/lime, soaked dates and dried herbs and throw them in a good blender. Mine isn’t very good so it struggled to blend these totally dry. I added a little bit of date juice- left over from soaking them. I added just enough to get the blades moving.

I must just mention what I used the dehydrator for….I made my own Sundried Tomatoes! It took all of two days for them to really dry properly but boy are they delicious! No preservatives or oil! Brilliant!

Now, that you have made your sauce, you can add some other bits to your dish – if you like. I added some raw mushrooms (soaked in a little lemon juice) and some fresh coriander.

I know what you’re thinking….this does not sound nice at all! I was TOTALLY surprised. You know I am game for just about anything but when it comes to taste, I won’t just swallow anything. But, this was really tasty and amazingly filling!

I am keen to experiment some more for lunch tomorrow!

Feel free to try it and let me know your thoughts!