Willing to try just about anything at the moment so have cut out dairy from my diet to see if it helps.. so far I have just had a really heavy feeling tummy and constipation and it's only day 4! Which is weird! I've also stopped drinking coffee as I don't like it black and think nut based milks are ridiculously expensive... but may change my mind on the nut milks at the weekend when I want coffee with breakfast....
Does anyone else cut out or restrict certain foods?
Thanks in advance! xx
I've removed gluten from my diet and trying to reduce dairy and refined sugars. This seems to be helpful for me xxx
Thank you for your reply, Im so glad you have found something which helps. I may consider cutting down on gluten in the future. I don't have a sweet tooth but I am craving cake like mad today!? So random! xx
I've tried both dairy and gluten free (and both at the same time). I did have some success with dairy free when I was younger but once my disease was advanced it sadly didn't make any difference. I don't have caffeine or alcohol though and found I felt better without those.
Thank you so much for your reply. I can imagine dairy and gluten free being quite difficult! Thats a shame it no longer helps, I may give it a try. No caffiene I think I could do but I would struggle without any alcohol at all i think (I know how bad that sounds!) I never drink the week before I come on as I know that makes it worse... might have to have a rethink of my red wine love! xxx
I am starting to think it's less about necessarily " cutting out" particular stuff... But more about a better all round balance of nutrition and getting a much higher proportion of and intake of fresh unprocessed foods per meal than we've become habituated to. I am just back from a holiday where I braved vegan catering for the first time. (Hubby is but I have refused for years, not least due to a nut allergy)
They weren't gluten free but I noticed they only used couscous, rice and potatoes and rye ( low or no gluten) bread in the main of what we were served just with a bit of Ciabatta on the side. I had salad and fruit with breakfast and desert and found that overall I was eating much more fresh stuff and far less processed dense food. For lunch I had a fresh roll ( would have gluten but no preservatives) with a bit of smoked slicing tofu with salad.
Because of the balance of fresh foods I was not constipated but had softer stools apologies for the tmi. I really thought I would be hungry from lack of protein but my fatigue was actually better overall though still far from great.
Odd days I had blowouts and broke the rules , once with delicious blueberry cheesecake for my birthday and on the way home a big bowl of veggie tagliatelle, (gluten overload but otherwise healthy) both times my tummy blew up like a balloon.
It's been very interesting as an experiment, and I was surprised that the food was mostly excellent. I am definitely working to up my fresh salad content ( today fennel, orange and red peppercorn, yesterday carrot lemon and sweetcorn) and reduce the proportion of gluten particularly the volume of pasta in a dish which I love. I've also done a fair bit of research on diet which I will post separately.
Here is my research to date
Soya
Past studies were conflicting in their arguments but the latest studies do now lean towards soya, as being mildly positive. It was thought to be negative originally as oestrogen stimulates endo, plant phytooestrogens might also do the same.
But there are only so many receptors that oestrogen can latch onto and recent thinking is that phyto-oestrogens (which are very weak) will occupy some of the receptors and prevent the (much stronger) oestradiol from attaching (the driver of endo and oestrogen cancers). Latest clinical opinion now seems to be leaning toward soya as having protective effects due to this. Earlier positive studies also exist from Japan where tofu is a traditional diet component and a lower incidence of Endo was recorded.
Links
empowher.com/endometriosis/...
academic.oup.com/jnci/artic...
nextwavetherapy.com.au/phyt...
endometriosisnetwork.com/ea...
cancerresearchuk.org/about-...
Liver
The liver is important in metabolising excess hormones so eating foods that help it like leafy greens and avoiding foods that strain it like wine is helpful.
womensinternational.com/pdf...
Wine
Wine is again contentious, on balance not so good, most likely this is because it puts a strain on your liver. At any rate I find I physically can't drink more than half a small champagne glass now, very depressing! Here are some links.
bloominuterus.com/2016/07/2...
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Dairy
When it comes to dairy milk it is the casein type that is most relevant. Originally cows' milk had A2 beta casein, the same as in human milk. But the domestication of cows for dairy production caused a mutation that gave rise to A1 beta casein that has seemingly been proven to have several adverse effects on health. Amongst these are effects on immune and endocrine function and, as a consequence, on autoimmunity and allergies. There does seem to be a case that it is potentially harmful for anyone, but particularly for someone with an immune/endocrine disease such as endo. Goat's milk and Guernsey milk are meant to have mostly A2 so less irritant if dairy free options like soya, oat milk etc dont appeal
larabriden.com/the-inflamma...
The Endo Diet Book
The Endo diet book is written by an American and tends to get treated as absolute and sole truth. while it has plenty of good tips, it has some flaws to be aware of, in that it is now getting out of date with latest findings. Secondly, it is not entirely accurate for the UK market. Lastly it doesn't always present an balanced rounded view on both sides of some of the nutrition debates or include sources of clinical findings (particularly phyto-oestrogens and soya) that don't support the author's opinions, so should be taken with a pinch of sal and supported by your own personal research, though some will swear by it.
Firstly EU food production standards are far stricter than those in the US, GM was not accepted by the UK public so the US issues don't apply here in Soya produced for human consumption.
In terms of data sources it relies a little too heavily on Dr John Lee , a pretty controversial US clinician who's made a lot of money from controversial clinically unregulated allegedly "natural" progestogen creams ( for the debate see bmj.com/rapid-response/2011... and health.harvard.edu/womens-h... ).
Trying things out and taking what works for you is probably the best approach rather than following it blindly as a gospel.
GM / Organic / Drugs / Food chain
Soy gets a slating in the Endo Diet due to US manufacturing methods, where it is GM and heavily crop sprayed and a US specific scandal about production methods. Using organic branded products like Cauldron and Alpro with traceability tested beans avoids risk of any GM intake from human foods.
Maize is the other main GM crop to watch out for in processed food. If GM is a concern you may need to consider eating solely organic meat and dairy or else eating vegan. In the UK now large quantities of GM soya and maize are used as animal feed. Meat and dairy products fed on GM animal feed are not reqired to be labelled as GM-fed in British supermarkets.
US meat industry permits growth hormones, these are banned in Europe. Antibiotic growth stimulant feeds have been phased out. Certain drugs and medication of animals is allowed subject to record keeping and strict withdrawal periods after vet treatments
I have an intolerance to a protein found in mammals so had to cut out all sources of meat, milk etc from any mammal ( cows, goats, sheep, pigs ) . My diet is mainly poultry ( turkey, chicken and Ostrich ) fruit a d vegetables and as I have a whole wheat intolerance also have minimal amounts of rice and wheat free grains.
My endo still progressed and gradually became worse over the years so personally diet has made no difference to me in terms of stopping, or healing endo.
However .. cutting out anything that makes you feel bloated can only be a good thing in terms of less irritation for your insides.
Interestingly I can tolerate 0% fat or skimmed milk so it might be an option for you to switch down to that instead of cutting it all out x
Like you I had a pretty healthy veggie /near vegan diet for most of my adult years.
I doubt there are any massive direct curative or causal diet factors , but it may be one reason I don't experience as much pain ascothers and my Endo took a long time to develop.
Overall anyone switching from a processed food (inevitably salt, fat and refined sugar heavy) diet to one rich in fresh, unprocessed, ideally organic foods is likely to feel better in themselves.
Endo diet.. gluten free 
1st period since gluten free..
NO MORE PAIN with Keto diet The healthy & endo friendly version (gluten, dairy, red meat free)
Life without coffee...help! 
