Quick and easy meals for flare-ups

On Saturday I had an endometriosis pain flare-up. I haven’t had pain for ages, so it came as a bit of a surprise, but I’d had a stressful few weeks at work (in my other, non-nutrition job) and stress can often be a trigger for me.

I had a slow morning for the first few hours, but then luckily the edge had gone off the pain, and I could carry on with my plans, albeit at a slower pace. But I had that familiar feeling of losing my appetite. So, I made sure that what I could eat was quick to make and full of nutrients to give my body the support it needed.

And here the thing when we’re in an endometriosis flare-up that’s when our bodies are most in need of some anti-inflammatory and energy boosting nutrients. But it’s also the time we’re less likely to be eating that kind of food. It makes perfect sense, when you’re mid flare-up you not likely to be wanting to stand in the kitchen chopping vegetables. So instead, we go for the fast food, takeaway or ready meal option for speed and ease. As an occasional option that’s fine, but if you’ve having to rely on these foods regularly, they may be adding to the pain and gut symptoms you get and mean that you could be missing out on some of the nutrients that could help.

And then comes the other challenge – comfort eating. You’re in pain again, you’ve had to cancel your plans, you’re feeling left out of what everyone else is doing and so you want to make yourself feel better. And what do we often go for in these situations? The sweet stuff – chocolate, cakes or biscuits. Which again is fine as an odd treat, but when it becomes a regular habit, the sugar can be increasing inflammation and making bloating worse.

I know how hard it is as I used to do exactly these things at the peak of my endometriosis symptoms and chocolate became part of my coping strategy.

But the endo flare-ups kept happening more regularly and going on for longer, as I didn’t know how to get out of them or that the foods in my diet could be helping me instead of making things worse.

That’s why I put together my 7 Day Endometriosis Meal Plan to help you get plenty of anti-inflammatory foods into your diet on a daily basis.

And it includes a selection of quick and easy meal options for flare-days. These are perfect if you don’t have much appetite but need a quick way of getting a boost of anti-inflammatory nutrients.

So don’t get stuck in that what can I eat during an endometriosis flare-up scenario again. Get your copy of my 7 Day Endometriosis Meal Plan for £12.99 to get some quick and easy meal ideas for flare-up days.