After spring semester finals were over, I was super desperate to look for alternative solutions to my endometriosis related problems– mainly the extreme pain. I was given several options (some expensive ones!) from my women’s health doctor, but she mentioned nothing about nutrition. I started reading as much as I possibly could about endometriosis: books, articles, blog posts and I started noticing a pattern. Among all the many treatment options mentioned, almost every source I looked to said something about nutrition. With so many different ideas about what kind of nutrition helps or hinders one’s quality of life, I felt that I needed to try some of the ideas out myself. I think one of the reasons no women’s health doctor has ever recommended this to me before is the proven benefits that have been studied are, being brutally honest, marginal at best. However, for me, I have found every marginal bit of help to be worth seeking out. My favorite book– the most comprehensive and trustworthy one I can find on endometriosis and nutrition is called “Endometriosis: A Key To Healing Through Nutrition” by Michael Vernon PHD and Dian Mills MA. The title is somewhat deceptive, because there is no cure to endometriosis as all of us with it know all too well, and because these nutritional choices don’t truly “heal” anything. However, I have found that by making good food choices based on suggestions in this book, I can minimize the side effects of endometriosis (UTI’s, diarrhea, bloating) as well as minimizing the extreme pain itself. Also, lots of these suggestions are just healthy food choices to make in general. Eating raw, fresh fruits and vegetables is the most important part of an endometriosis diet– but is of course a healthy choice to make regardless of whether you have endometriosis or not. The rest of the diet can be simply understood by reading this chart (they use like two chapters to explain it, but really this sums it up entirely). You will note that a HIGH intake of FIBER is also an incredibly important part of this diet. 

The book also explains very clearly that some foods will bother some patients more than others, and so you have to really listen to your body and figure out what works best for you. For example, I have found that white bread doesn’t really increase my pain– while for some others– it deeply increases pain. Similarly, some women find that eating red meat greatly increases their pain, whereas for me it actually doesn’t. Once I found out that I had muscular damage from my endometriosis, I actually increased my intake of meat (IE started eating it, when I had prior been vegetarian), but I found that it did not increase my pain or other symptoms. If anything, it made me feel better– or at least stronger. I think the most difficult part of eating with endometriosis in mind is that you aren’t really supposed to have treats: ice cream, candies, baked goods, etc. This has been extremely difficult for me because I have a sweet tooth in the EXTREME. I will not tell a lie, as I have been switching over to eating to reduce my overall pain, I HAVE cheated a bit and occasionally had candy at the movies or a treat on a holiday. BUT I have reduced my overall consumption of sugary treats by at least 85% and that has made the biggest difference of all. HOWWWW have I survived you may ask?

Well, here are a few of my favorite healthy snacks with a little bit of sweet in them, but not enough to be damaging for my condition. And lots of them have protein in them for those damaged muscles so that is a plus!

1. Perfect Bars (I literally LOVE these), the peanut butter chocolate chip ones are my favorite and they have 15 GRAMS OF PROTEIN

2. Emmy Macaroons, made with all organic ingredients (lots of coconut which is good because FIBER)

3. Banana Peanut Butter bites, fruit and protein and the chewiness is SO satisfying

4. Popcorn, high in fiber and seriously fun to eat– especially with different toppings (I try not to use sweet toppings, mostly salty/savory ones, and not too much butter– LIME IS MY FAVORITE).

All righty, well now that I’ve given endometriosis patients and healthy friends in general some fun ideas for eating healthfully, I’m off!