Diet for Fibroids – WHAT TO EAT AND AVOID – Fibroid Shrinking Foods
Transcription :
The most common questions that I have been getting asked recently is all about uterine fibroids. What are they? How do they affect your fertility? And most importantly, what can you do to get rid of them? So that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this video. So keep on watching.
My name is Dr. Marc Sklar, also known as the fertility expert and welcome to Fertility TV. This is your YouTube channel dedicated to helping you get pregnant. I’ve been working with couples for over 18 years, helping them with my online fertility coaching programs and right here in sunny San Diego at one of my clinics. And I’ve had the privilege of working with many of you to support you through your fertility journey and fibroids have been something that we have addressed recently. And so I want to make sure that we cover all the ins and outs having to do with uterine fibroids today.
Uterine fibroids, well, they are abnormal growth that grow on or in a woman’s uterus. Sometimes these growths can grow so large that they can cause severe pain and bleeding either during a menstrual cycle or outside of a normal menstrual cycle. And some of you might actually have uterine fibroids and have actually no symptoms whatsoever. Now, one of the common questions we get asked is can this affect your ability to not only get pregnant, but stay pregnant? The short answer is maybe. Depending on the location of the fibroid, the size of the fibroid and certainly if there’s multiple fibroids, that also plays a role as well. This may or may not impact your ability to conceive and hold a child.
So certainly if they are inside the uterus, they have more of a likelihood of disrupting your ability to conceive. And depending on where they’re located in the uterus as well, this may also become an issue. But if they are small and outside the uterus, then it’s less likely that they’re going to be a problem. I have worked with many women who have not only been able to conceive with fibroids, but carried to full term with extremely large fibroids. And what do I mean by extremely large? Well, we could have really small fibroids as small as a pea or a tangerine, and we can have them the size of a grapefruit. That’s right, the size of a grapefruit. Usually those are really big. They’re uncomfortable. You can feel them. But depending on the situation, they may not impact your ability to get pregnant or hold a pregnancy.
Masses grow. Well, first and foremost, I should make sure to let you all know that these masses are usually non-cancerous. We do want to make sure, but in general, they’re usually non-cancerous. So we don’t have an issue from that perspective. But the two main things that do stimulate the growth of these fibroids are your hormones, progesterone and estrogen. And these are necessary hormones. They help to do all sorts of things in the body, which I’ve discussed in many other videos. But in this situation, they do help to nourish and thicken the endometrium. And in some circumstances, when it comes to fibroids, they can cause those fibroids to grow larger. And we know this because fibroids contain more estrogen and progesterone receptors than other tissue. And so they take that up and that’s what causes these masses to grow and become larger, which we don’t really want. So what do we do about that?
Well, the first thing that I would encourage all of you to do is start to get your hormones tested. We do want to find out, are you producing more estrogen and progesterone? And if so, what are you doing with that? And so in my mind, this is not just a regular blood test. I would suggest some blood tests for this, but I would also suggest a DUTCH test as well, a dried urine hormone panel that allows us to see not only what your hormones are, but what your body is doing with them.
Number two fibroids is that they do affect a certain population of women more than others. So African American women are more likely to develop fibroids than Caucasian women. And by the age of 35, 60% of African American women will have developed a uterine fibroid in comparison to 40% of Caucasian women. So we do know that there is some genetic piece to this that influences your propensity to develop uterine fibroids. Now, there might not be something that we can do to change your genetics, but there are things that we can do to change how your body handles these genes and will it cause your body to develop uterine fibroids and if you have them, what you can do to start to hopefully get rid of them.
Extremely important and something I want to talk about, I often talk about diet and fibroids are no different. So anytime we’re trying to make a constitutional change in our body, influence our genetics positively so that they don’t continue to perform in that manner and reduce our fibroid growth and size, then we do always need to start with some foundational things and diet is at the top of the list.
Number one on that top of the list is alcohol consumption. We want to limit the alcohol consumption. So I want to take this in two ways. First and foremost, I want to say, if possible, get rid of all alcohol, because that will negatively impact not only your hormones, but your fibroids. But if that’s not possible, then I want to make sure that you are only taking good, healthy alcohol.
Well, what do I really mean by good, healthy alcohol? Well, the reality is is that not all alcohol is created equal. And especially if you live in the United States, most wine and beer actually has chemicals and toxins in it. And we have seen that through some studies that have been done where they’ve been testing beer and wine. And the majority, even if they are organic, actually do have chemicals and specifically Roundup in it. So this is a pesticide and we want to get rid of this in our body. It causes all sorts of issues. And so one of the things that I am encouraging all of you to do is stop having beer and wine. But if you can’t, then make sure you’re having clean versions of that. Okay?
So I don’t really recommend beer too often because it causes all sorts of other issues in the body. But if you are going to drink some wine, then a good, healthy cup of, or glass of wine for that matter, that has been tested to be chemical free and toxin free is what you should be choosing. I’m actually going to leave a resource for you in the description below that can help you with that or help you locate that as well. But my number one rule of thumb is don’t buy your wine in the U.S. Buy it from abroad and from small wineries because that will help to mitigate this piece.
Number two is avoid grains, avoid sugar and processed foods. You’re going to say, “Marc, but that’s all the good stuff.” I know it is, but all the healthy stuff can be good for you too, and can be tasty if you cook it the right way. And the reality is, is all the processed food, all the high sugar foods are not great for us and grains can increase inflammation, can disrupt our digestive function. And when our digestive function is disrupted, it actually is more difficult for us to get rid of and excrete our estrogen in our body. So we want to make that process really easy and allow your body to focus on what it needs to do, which is get rid of that fibroid and regulate your hormones. So get rid of the processed foods, get rid of the sugar and minimize, if not get rid of, the grains that you’re eating.
… enough of and this is increasing your vegetable intake, that’s right, your leafy greens. I want all of you to have more greens in your diet. And my preference is that you get that through your food so that you’re cooking more vegetables, you’re eating more vegetables and consuming them. But for some of you, that might be hard. And to do it consistently, that might be difficult as well. So I am going to put another resource down below in the description that makes this a little bit easier. It’s dehydrated, organic greens. They’re powdered and you can just add them to a smoothie or to some water. They taste great. You mix it up and you drink it. Now this should not replace getting vegetables and greens in your diet. I want that to be step number one. But if maybe you go through the day and you have a hard day and you realize that you didn’t have a lot of vegetables or you want an extra boost in your vegetable consumption, then this is a perfect way to do it. And that’s exactly how I consume it.
But there’s more to this when we’re talking about fibroids and its impact on our endocrine system. The reality is is we are exposed to chemicals and toxins all the time that are endocrine disruptors, and fallates are one of those things. So we want to make sure that we are not exposed to fallates. They come in different forms and you can find them in cleaning products and skincare products. These are all endocrine disruptors. We want to get rid of that. So my tip for all of you is clean up your house, clean up the things that you use on a daily basis, clean up the things you put on your body and clean up the things that you put your food into.
And so by that, I mean, make sure you’re using safe, clean, and healthy products that you can use to clean your house, that you can use as beauty products to put on your skin and your hair and makeup. And on top of that, if you are using plastic to store your food in, get rid of that and replace it with glass. That is a much safer way for you to store your food. And it’s not going to cause an issue for your endocrine system, which is what will cause an effect on your hormones. So in terms of finding the right products, the cleanest products, you can keep it simple and just do some do-it-yourself stuff at home. You can also check out the EWG, ewg.org, to check out and find clean and healthy products that you can use at home and on your skin.
… mentioned this earlier, get your hormones tested. If you have not had your hormones tested, go do it. Let’s find out what your estrogen and is saying. Let’s find out what your progesterone is doing. And let’s find out how your body is using those things so that we know how to support you and balance your hormones, which will not only help you manage your fibroids, but also hopefully help you get pregnant a little bit faster to manage your fibroids and take control of your fertility so that you can get pregnant.
And these are just some of them. I actually dive much deeper into this topic and how you can get more answers on your fertility needs and create a good plan for yourself in my online program called the Positive Pregnancy Method. This program is designed to help you figure out what is going on with your body and help you get pregnant. And it’s worked for hundreds of women and it can work for you too. If you want more information on my Positive Pregnancy Method program and how you can join it, then use the link in the description and below so that you can learn more.
Okay. I want to hear from all of you. How did you like this video? Did you find the information I shared useful? What are you going to start to do right now to impact and manage your fibroids and hopefully get pregnant? Comment below and let me know. If you liked this video, then make sure you give me a thumbs up. And share the video if you think it’s going to be useful for somebody else. Additionally, if you’re not already a subscriber to my YouTube channel, you should be. And it’s really easy to do. Just hit that bell so you can subscribe and get notified when I put out a new video for you. All right, everyone. So until the next video, I want you to stay safe, stay healthy, and most of all, stay fertile.