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5 Key Things that Make the Endometriosis Diet Different to Every Other “Healthy Diet” You May Have Tried

Eating a “healthy diet” will certainly help you feel a little better with your Endometriosis. The thing is that “a little better” is often not good enough to really allow us to stick to any “diet”. Endometriosis is unique in the requirements it has to make you feel better. What is often marketed as a “healthy diet” is just not enough for us endo ladies.

Here are the key things you will find in the Endometriosis diet that make it distinctive and so much better than the basic healthy diet!

 

1. No Dairy

Often we are told that we need to consume more dairy. We are told we need to get calcium and the best source is milk. It is funny because milk actually contains quite a low quantity of calcium and it is difficult for our bodies to absorb!

The problem with milk is that it is inflammatory in our bodies. Milk is often over-processed and all that homogenizing destroys so much of its goodness. Dairy is also acidic to the body.

When trying to heal any disease within the body, we really want to reduce acidity as much as possible. An alkaline body is a healthy body!

 

2. No dietary products

Those low sugar diet products are often loaded with flavorants and ingredients which are toxic to our bodies. As endo ladies, we struggle to process toxins and many have been directly linked to Endometriosis.

Unfortunately, these type of products are far from healthy and will certainly not help your healing with Endometriosis.

 

3. No processed oils

When we think “healthy diet”, we think of salads and this means salad dressing! Unfortunately, many of the salad dressings contain highly processed oils. These oils are just so bad for us Endo ladies. Our bodies break them down and they land up as a toxin for our liver to process. They also change the cell structures in our bodies, which is never good when we are trying to heal the body!

 

4. No soy products

Soy has been marketed as this “wonder healthy milk”, a “better alternative to milk”. Unfortunately, there is continuous evidence of the negative effects of soy products. Not only does it alter our hormone balance but the beans used to create the soy milk are often from genetically modified sources. Read more about Soy here. 

 

5. Cutting out gluten and grains 

Gluten is in heaps of foods and can cause inflammation, headaches, digestive issues, poor nutritional absorption and heaps more! Both gluten and grains (even those without gluten in them) are acidic for our bodies. Check out my video about Endometriosis and Gluten.

Gluten has been directly linked to infertility and many of the symptoms experienced with Endometriosis.

 

 

I know it seems that “eating healthy” should be simple and easy but it seems that what we have been “sold” is not always the best for our bodies. The best thing to do is to stick to a more raw food diet, from organic sources. This way, you are getting easy-to-digest, highly nutritious foods, which will give your body great healing properties.

If you are stuck with how to start eating the Endometriosis diet, why not check out my book: Eat Endo Happy and see how delicious and easy it can be.

Hugs, Melissa x
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This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. Jacinda

    Hi I was wondering if you know of a bread that us endo women can have? I’m finding it hard to find one in Australia that has no wheat, gluten, soy and no sugar usually I find one of those things in bread..
    I’m finding pretty much everything is irritating my stomach after I eat even though I have been on the endo diet, although I’m sure I’ve had things plenty of times I’m not aloud because sugar is hidden in everything!
    If I was to try make my own bread what ingredients would you surgest? Also any natural pain relief information you have would be great as I’m willing to try anything to get back on my feet as I have been off work for months straight and am struggling to afford this diet and to pay rent!

  2. Nicole

    Any next step suggestions for those who have tried these 5 steps and still suffer from painful cramps?

  3. Melissa

    Hi Gagan,
    Here is an article which covers the basics of Endometriosis and where to start. http://endoempowered.com/endometriosis-diet-2/
    I would go as natural as possible and conception will be easier.
    Hugs,

  4. gagan

    Hi Melissa,
    I had a laparotomy to remove 8.6 cm endometrioma on my left ovary. Doctor said it will come back, I am so much worried. Could you please let me know the proper diet chart? We are also trying to conceive, Doctor put me on metformin coz i also have PCOS.

    Waiting for reply

    Thanks

  5. Melissa

    Hi Geti and welcome to the blog 🙂 Bran bread is still a highly processed food. They make the bread with highly processed flour and then add the bran back in – in most cases. Maybe if you got it from a health store, where they make it from scratch, using real bran. Brown rice is okay – I usually get the wild rice variety for extra roughage 🙂

  6. Geti

    Malissa do you think bran bread and brown rice can be taken instead of white processed bread and white polished rice, will it do any good?

  7. Melissa

    Hi Kristy,
    So, the headaches have only come along since going on the endo diet? It could be that your body is detoxing from all the stuff in your body. My recommendation is to drink a heap of spirulina or wheatgrass or any of the green powders. They alkalise the body really quickly and act like a blood purifier for you. Perhaps, you should also take the diet in stages and not try and do it all at once. Check out this article for more inspiration to stick with it:http://endoempowered.com/making-endometriosis-diet-harder/
    http://endoempowered.com/my-new-discovery-bicarbonate-of-soda-could-this-really-help-endometriosis/
    Bicarb is also a great alkaliser. Just have a teaspoon in water at least 2hrs after food, once or twice a day. It also helps with pain and Interstitial Cystitis.

  8. Kristy

    It was recently discovered that I have Stage II-III Endo after having a lap surgery. I am REALLY struggling with the endo diet- not just because it’s SO restrictive, but because I have been getting DAILY headaches. I am getting them every single day, and I don’t know how much more I can take. I am ready to scrap the whole diet altogether because the headaches are so severe I feel like I am about to have a breakdown and just want to feel better. Are the headaches normal? Any suggestions?

  9. Melissa

    Hi Christina and welcome to my blog 🙂 Glad you like it 🙂
    If you can cut out grains entirely that would be even better! They add to the candida issue many of us share with endo, so if you can do it, even better. Most girls just focus on gluten as this is the main culprit – it contains a protein which inhibits certain nutrients to be absorbed by some of us and affects our digestive system. See how you feel. I did a “no gluten” test for 2 weeks and then ate it and it was pretty clear it didn’t agree with me. Once you know the signs, you can work out how seriously you wanna go. I found it really hard initially. Gluten is in so many things we don’t even realise – soy sauce, condiments, soups.

    Milk is also not great as it is often over produced and contains lots of other nasty stuff. If you can find a cow’s milk, which comes straight from an organic, grass fed cow, then it would probably be okay. It just creates inflammation in our bodies and to be honest, there are just better replacements for our bodies.

    On a final note, miscarriages can be a sign of a lack of progesterone to carry the child through. It could be that your hormones are out of balance. http://endoempowered.com/hormones-tested-accurately-understand-move/

    I am so happy you found me and look forward to hearing more from you 🙂

  10. Christina

    Hey Melissa, I first want to thank you for this site. When we hit the end of our ropes and turn to the internet and find a useful, informative, and hopeful site like this one, it really helps 🙂 I never had a problem with endo until I had a miscarriage. I assume that my immune system tanked after that, allowing the endo to get its grubby little claws into my body 😛 I’ve never had a lapo, so technically I’ve never been diagnosed with endometriosis, but I do know I have a largish endometrioma on my ovary, and let’s face it, when you strongly show seventeen of the twenty symptoms that previously had no explanation… it’s time to make some changes.

    I have a couple of questions about this diet. I’ve been following most of it for years – even before I started showing any symptoms of endo at all. I never cook with anything except coconut oil, for example, or eat any processed foods at all.

    I had read that spelt contains gluten, but that it’s more easily processed by the body than wheat gluten is. Should I just cut out grains entirely? Would this include buckwheat?

    Secondly – you mention the detrimental effect of milk on the body because of the homogenization. Does this include raw cow’s milk?

    Thanks again 😀

  11. Mojdeh

    thanks Melissa 🙂 … I didn’t know about hemp milk, I’ll definitely give it a try.
    cheers,
    -Mojdeh

  12. Melissa

    Hi Mojdeh,
    I make my own rice milk sometimes. The stuff at the supermarket tends to contain vegetable oils or other ingredients which I don’t really like. Here is a video on how to make your own rice milk: http://youtu.be/sQhUhMUS8Yg. Hemp Milk is apparently really good too but I haven’t found that in New Zealand yet.
    Soy Milk is unfortunately also not great for us endo girls as it is oestrogenic. Check out this article I did on soy: http://endoempowered.com/why-are-soy-products-are-so-bad-for-endometriosis/

  13. Mojdeh

    Hi Melissa,

    I always thought non-GMO soy milk is a healthier option compared to milk, although I never liked the additives I saw in the ingredients! what do you suggest instead of milk and soy milk? I also have almond allergy, so can’t consume almond milk either!

    cheers,
    -Mojdeh

  14. Melissa

    Sorry hun. I will do a video for you sometime this week and show you what I eat 🙂

  15. Bernadette

    Hi Mel, still struggling with the endo diet myself and looking for inspiration. Would love to read your typical daily diet – fancy sharing?

    Bernadette

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