Endometriosis 2: Nutrition, Stress & Seed Cycling
Welcome back to women’s health coach and endometriosis specialist Saoirse Nash for part two of our blog series
In Part One, Saoirse explained the role of inflammation in endometriosis and supportive practices such as cycle syncing and yoga. Building on those foundations, this second instalment dives deeper into food-first ways to alleviate endo symptoms.
Saoirse will give us practical nutrition points, what to eat during a flare, how stress impacts symptoms, and introduces one of our favourite holistic tools: seed cycling! Including how to start and simple ways to use seeds daily.
Where should women begin with nutrition when managing endometriosis?
Luckily, I feel like there are many different entry points to using nutrition to manage and even reduce symptoms of endometriosis. It’s a ‘pick your adventure’ scenario!
In no particular order, you could look at:
✓ Reducing UPF’s (ultra-processed foods) and packaged foods. It’s well known that these foods are not good for anyone’s health: they are pro-inflammatory and often nutritionally poor.
✓ Start reading packages, noticing how many ingredients the food has, whether you recognise the ingredients (would you have them in your own kitchen?) is it full of additives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers? How close to the top of the ingredients list are sugars and artificial sweeteners? (the closer it is to the top of the list, the more of that ingredient the product contains). Your body needs good, whole-foods with few additives to be healthy.
✓ Focus on increasing the amount of fruit and veg you eat every day. Simply adding a portion to each and every meal will boost the amount of fibre, antioxidants and other beneficial plant compounds in your diet, and your body needs these things to keep inflammation levels in check, and to keep digestion healthy. Try to focus on getting a variety of colour (because it means lots of different compounds).
✓ Make reducing sugar and artificial sweeteners a priority: unfortunately, artificial sweeteners are not really better for you than sugar! They actually still cause insulin dysregulation (in a slightly different mechanism to sugar) but in this way, they still mess with blood sugar and add to the associated symptoms.
You don’t need to Cut All Sugar, but it’s really valuable to reduce it in your diet. Don’t have a sugar-filled breakfast (this messes with blood sugar and other hormones for the rest of the day) and try to get your sugar fix from healthier options: dark chocolate of 70% and over, dates or ‘raw desserts’.
Are there foods women with endo should prioritise or avoid during flare-ups?
Women with endo should always prioritise vegetables first and foremost, regardless of whether they are currently flaring, closely followed by high-fibre, low sugar fruits like berries, apples and green bananas.
Prioritising these foods ensures that they’re getting good amounts of fibre and antioxidants. It’s also best to avoid UPF’s like ready meals, protein bars, bags of sweets etc. These foods cause inflammation, which will worsen any flare symptoms you may be experiencing.
How do stress, gut health and hormones connect when it comes to endometriosis?
Chronic (on-going) stress is a major factor when it comes to developing any chronic disease, endometriosis included.
When we say ‘stress’ we’re usually referring to the feeling of being challenged or threatened by a situation in your life. This activates the sympathetic nervous system, your ‘fight or flight’ response. Your body is getting ready to deal with the perceived danger (this system evolved back when the danger was tigers - now, the danger is traffic, emails, a bad job, a difficult relationship, financial struggles etc etc).
This system is great, you want to be able to activate fight or flight mode when threatened. The problem is that ‘threats’ are numerous in today’s world (how many of us would identify as feeling stressed almost every day?) and this can lead to chronic stress, chronic activation of the nervous system
… and why is this an issue? Because there is a corresponding hormonal surge when your brain perceives danger. Your stress response causes the hormone cortisol to rise, and diverts energy away from systems such as digestion, immunity and reproduction (because you don’t immediately need them to fight or flee, right?!).
How does this affect women with endo? It means digestion is not prioritised, which affects nutrient absorption, and waste excretion. It can contribute to leaky gut, meaning that waste products can be reabsorbed into the blood stream, and cause inflammation and symptoms like brain fog, bloating, nausea and fatigue.
Cortisol also signals blood sugar levels to rise, because you need that sugary fuel to do the fighting or fleeing. Dysregulated blood sugar also causes the symptoms listed above. It also adds to inflammation… and inflammation levels are raised in women with endometriosis anyway!
So the more inflammation you add, the more symptomatic the woman is likely to become. Another vicious cycle. Managing chronic stress is key in managing endometriosis, as well as other chronic diseases.
What exactly is seed cycling and how does it support hormone balance?
Seed cycling is the practice of eating specific seeds in both halves of the menstrual cycle: Flax and pumpkin seeds in the first half and sesame and sunflower in the second half.
Not every woman has a 28 day cycle, so if you’re tracking ovulation, then you would eat flax and pumpkin seeds from cycle day 1 (the first day of your bleed) until ovulation is confirmed, and then you would switch to sesame and sunflower for the remainder of your cycle (the luteal phase).
Seed cycling is such a simple, easy practice to incorporate into your life, but it has huge benefits! The compounds found in the seeds help with hormone balancing, which is particularly useful for any woman who has noticeable cycle issues.
Flax seeds are rich in lignans (phytoestrogens), which help to promote healthy oestrogen production and regulation—an important consideration for women with endometriosis. They also provide fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, which support gut health and help regulate inflammation. Pumpkin seeds are high in magnesium and zinc, key nutrients for supporting hormone balance, nervous system function, and immune health.
Sesame seeds are also rich in lignans (phytoestrogens), and together sesame and sunflower seeds provide omega-3 fatty acids and zinc, which support progesterone production and help regulate inflammation. They also supply vitamin E, selenium, and healthy fats, supporting hormone balance, antioxidant activity, and overall cellular health.
Including these seeds daily into the diet will help women with endo to encourage balanced levels of oestrogen and progesterone, and help with inflammation levels. This has the potential, over time, to ease some of the pain and cycle irregularities associated with endometriosis.
What’s the simplest way to get started with seed cycling?
You have two choices if you want to start seed cycling. The simplest way to start is probably to purchase the seeds pre-ground and start adding them to whatever meal you prefer!
You can of course grind the seeds yourself at home, but if you’re struggling to make dietary changes and you feel overwhelmed, then removing blockages to change is important.
Having the seeds pre-ground and on hand removes the effort and organisation required to have them ground up when you cook your meal. I understand that we must also take finances into account, however, so it’s about weighing up the pro’s and con’s. Buying the seeds and grinding them yourself is less expensive but requires planning and effort, whereas buying them ground is a little more expensive but much easier on the routine! So it’s an individual choice.
Check out Seed Cycle's whole and pre-ground seed blends
Do you have a favourite way to add seeds into meals?
My seeds always go into my porridge! I just pop 1 - 2 tablespoons of seeds in after I’ve cooked the porridge, and then top with Greek yoghurt and nut butter. It’s so simple! But really, you can put them in, or on, anything. That’s the great thing about seed cycling - it’s so versatile!
Seed cycling fits seamlessly into an anti-inflammatory, nutrient-rich approach to endometriosis. The seeds provide fibre, lignans, zinc, selenium and essential fatty acids -key nutrients for regulating hormones, stabilising blood sugar and calming systemic inflammation. For women experiencing flares, grounding routines like seed cycling can provide gentle, daily nourishment.
For more information on supporting your endo health, find Saoirse on Instagram @the.wholehealthcoach
Read Blog 1: Saoirse's Story: Endometriosis, Inflammation, Cycle Syncing and Yoga
Read Blog 3: endometriosis, nervous system support, myths busting and hope
