Smoking/Nicotine and Uterine Fibroids

I wonder how many of you are aware of the health benefits of smoking?  Well surprisingly there are several types of 'smoker's paradoxes' or cases where smoking appears to have a beneficial effect.

It transpires that smoking is known to reduce the incidence of uterine fibroids and endometriosis!  It's believed that the benefits are derived from the the nicotine in the tobacco smoke acting as an anti-inflammatory agent interfering with the disease process.

Having discovered how complicated a disease process uterine fibroids are, I dare say that this is a rather over simplistic rationale of the mechanisms at work.

Even so implementing an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle will greatly help fight the symptoms and growth of uterine fibroids.

Good anti-inflammatory foods/supplements to incorporate into your diet include:

• Omega-3 fish oil (either as a supplement or from oily fish such as mackerel, sardines and wild salmon)
• Turmeric or you could go straight for the powerful stuff and simply take curcumin
• Garlic and onions
• Cruciferous vegetables - pretty much every list of 10 anti-inflammatory foods contains broccoli, cauliflower, kale or cabbage
• Berries; strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries (great in smoothies and lower in sugar than other fruits)
• Green tea
• Shiitake mushrooms (great smoky tasting mushrooms)

Avoid vegetable oils (pro-inflammatory as high in omega-6 oils) use olive oil for salad dressing and coconut oil or coconut butter for cooking.  Coconut butter doesn't taste of coconuts so wont taint the taste of your cooking.

Exercise also has a great anti-inflammatory effect on our bodies so get moving!

Oh and if you haven't done so already - quit smoking - the health benefits far out weigh any smoker's paradoxes!