NOURISHING WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

As a teenager, I learned how to swallow pills. The truth is, many girls do. When you’re beset by heavy, painful periods and can’t think straight in your biology class, it’s almost a necessity. But some months I also had to leave school, unable to hold myself together with such intense pain. Later, after having an ovarian cyst surgically removed, I found out that I had endometriosis, a condition affecting 1 in 10 women in the U.S.

Fast forward to 2016: I changed my diet, and my menstrual health changed completely. All the symptoms I experienced before — for more than 15 years — went away. How could that be? (And why didn’t my doctors know?) That’s what I set out to understand. The plant-based health movement opened up a world of understanding to me, especially how food affects hormonal health across the lifespan.

Regardless of gender, this is information all people need to know. People with menstrual and reproductive health concerns experience many disorders within this delicate system — ranging from infertility to menstrual conditions, and from reproductive cancers to menopause challenges. Nutrition and lifestyle are powerful forces to bring us back into balance, with the ability to reduce our risk of these common ailments and even heal them.

Launching just before International Women’s Day, Plant Powered Metro New York is presenting a four-part livestream series together with our partners at HeartSmarts. Learn from nutritionally-informed women’s health professionals from across the country who offer valuable insights and practical tips to enhance your health and well-being at different stages of life.