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Endometriosis & Nutrition
Diet & Nutrition
Endometriosis can influence your bodily needs; from your hormones to your skin, your energy levels to your mental health, your eating habits, to how well your body digests, absorbs, and uses food. Your main priority should be to ensure that your diet meets all of your nutritional needs; including energy, fats, protein, vitamins and minerals.
Despite what we see online, there isn’t at present any known diets or foods that can reliably treat or manage Endometriosis. The incorrect information we read online about diets for Endometriosis can cause harm in two ways:
- The first is that by cutting out food groups like grains, dairy and/or meat, while we are unlikely to see any benefit from an Endometriosis perspective, we are at higher risk of nutritional deficiencies.
- The second reason is that attempting to cut out food groups is generally unsustainable and when we inevitably struggle, it can lead to feelings of shame and guilt that we’re not as disciplined as we “should be”.
If removing something from your diet is working for you, then you should be supported to continue with it, while ensuing your diet still meets all of your nutritional needs.
The good news is that there are proactive things that you can do to support your health with Endometriosis which are likely to have a positive impact on your condition. Here’s what’s suggested:
- Research suggests that being within a healthy weight range can be beneficial when you have Endometriosis.
- Reduce foods that we know are linked with inflammation such as trans-fats which are found in processed foods, red meat and alcohol. Studies have shown a negative effect on symptoms from these foods.
- On balance, while the evidence is limited, it is very likely that foods that are anti-inflammatory in nature such as fruit and vegetables, oily fish, olive oil and nuts are important to include.
- Vitamin D has been shown to be important in managing inflammation in the body.
- Magnesium can have an anti-spasmodic effect by helping with muscle relaxation. Research has shown that magnesium may support pain management in Endometriosis.
- Caffeine has been shown to increase the availability of estrogen in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. This supports the suggestion that caffeine is best avoided in those with Endometriosis.
- You should aim to consume a minimum of 2 liters of water per day to ensure your body is doing its job to excrete any buildup of harmful particles.
- Low FODMAP diets have been suggested to be helpful in managing the symptoms of Endometriosis. This is because, low FODMAP diets can help to reduce fermentation in the colon, meaning it doesn’t get inflated by gas as much.
The main goals of diet and lifestyle advice is to reduce inflammation, to help your body to cope with inflammation better and to support hormone regulation.
To access the full article on diet and endometriosis, click here.
