Breakthrough Discovery! Discovering Fermented Foods and Their Role in Healing Endometriosis

To be honest, when I first discovered candida, I really believed it was something I could “get rid of” once and it would be all gone. Like some kind of invader, that I flushed out and that would be the end of it. I saw candida as a separate entity, something that was a fungus, that had just gotten out of proportion because we were feeding it wheat and sugar. Here’s what I have just discovered on a much deeper level: you cannot flush it out once, and it is gone forever! It is supposed to live in our bodies and will reside their no matter what. It will also get out of control easily, if we feed it the foods it likes!

Here’s how this all came about…

The week before leaving for London, we stayed with James’s parents place. This meant, I couldn’t stick to my Endo Diet as well as I would’ve liked. I also drank wine and ate more sweets than I normally do. My digestion went haywire. I was instantly tired, my body ached like anything and I had that funny phlegmy feeling in my mouth again, which I hadn’t had in months. I felt frustrated! I thought this thing was all under control and here it was, back with a vengeance after only one week of eating a little off balance! This was just all too hard!

I then met Susan (owner of Vitallife) and she recommended a book called Nourishing Traditions. In it, it explains how we (as people) used to eat heaps of fermented foods and it is these fermented foods which helped keep not just our candida and other naturally occurring bacteria that live in our gut in check but also were vitally important in fighting off infection and keeping our immune system working.

It was like a lightbulb moment for me! Here I was sticking to the Endo Diet with such dedication and discipline, all the while not understanding that by cutting out sugar and gluten, I was indirectly simply lowering my inner fungal overgrowth. The minute I ate them, my endo and my digestive system would be completely thrown out and it would take days of eating well to get them working properly again! I always thought that it was some kind of lesson… like “that will teach you to veer off your Endo Diet!”.

Here’s the thing that is really interesting and a much cooler way of handling things!

First off, I need to explain what fermented foods are. Fermented foods are foods which contain natural good bacteria. They used to exist in our diets for centuries, and it is only a recent development that we don’t naturally include them.

If we eat fermented foods, we get heaps of benefits and healing for our bodies. Here is a breakdown of each:

1. Keeping a positive balance

I have never liked the idea of simply eradicating anything, hormones, cysts, endo. Yet, here we are trying to simply get rid of the bad stuff in our bodies again. With fermented foods, we might not need to go there! If we fill our guts with lots and lots of good bacteria, they will eat up all the bad ones or the excess ones and a normal balance will exist, without this constant need to “eradicate”. Obviously, it does depend on just how out of control these fungi in our body are, but in most cases we can probably just add enough “good guys” in and it will work itself out.

2. Eating away toxins in the body

By having a good supply of good bacteria (from fermented foods), the toxins found on certain foods will essentially be “eaten” by those bacteria. These would be pesticides and fungicides we inevitably eat in our diet. Now this is really important for endo women, as toxins are a massive contributor of hormone imbalance and overloading of the liver.

3. Reduces endometriosis and pain

The link between endometriosis and candida is huge! Candida indirectly stimulates prostaglandin 2, which are the hormone-like substances that stimulate inflammation, pain and clotting. By getting candida into balance, we directly influence this reaction within the body and its resulting effects on endometriosis growing and causing pain. This explains why so many women feel better on the Endometriosis Diet. We get the candida to a manageable level and this indirectly reduces the prostaglandin related pain and inflammation.

4. Our elimination process works properly

How are we expected to get rid of toxins and essentially, those waste products our bodies don’t need, when it doesn’t work properly? If your stools are not perfect, they need to be dark brown, reasonably firm (sorry to be graphic), then you are simply not eliminating well. When we don’t eliminate well, all those things we are trying to flush out, simply re-enter the blood-stream. That includes hormones, toxins and all that stuff that essentially wants to get out!

If we don’t flush them out, they simply rot in there and create more toxins and disease!

5. Proper nourishment

With an override of candida and other fungi, the entire digestive system is essentially feeding these guys and not us! All those wonderful supplements and superfoods are not giving us their true potential!

When we have that balance back, we will absorb all the nutrients we are giving our bodies. With those really getting to our cells and our organs, our true healing can really begin!

I will be sharing some videos and “how to articles” on how to make your own fermented foods in the next few weeks. In the meantime, check out this FREE PDF on starting to make your own fermented foods. 

I am going to be focusing on vegetable based fermented foods, to start. The one I like the most is the beetroot based one! Check it out!

I really believe this is so important to our healing! I really think this is such a massive part of endo! Let’s get into making our own fermented foods!

Have you made any? Do you have a whole variety in your kitchen?