I need to change my diet! Any help or advise please ladies!

[Dancer53]

I really need to change my diet, I do not eat the right foods. But I just don't no were to start or how to start to make the changes. I'm sitting here now in pain, wondering why my endo is activated tonight is it something I've ate? I would like to start a family and want to do all I can to make this happen If possible! Any advise or help would be greatly appreciated thanks x

[jojo777]

Hi

There is the endo diet that is based on no gluten/wheat, no dairy, no caffeine, no alcohol, no processed sugar, no red meat etc. It is strict but if you take one step at a time, it wont be too hard. Many women with endo found relief by following this diet, one of the major things to cut down is wheat/gluten and dairy as they are usually the ones causing more pain.

endo-resolved.com/diet.html

You will need to organise yourself and shopping and be patient cause it might take a while till you see results.

You said you would like to start a family, so if you can afford to see a nutrionist once (a specialised in fertility/womens problems) and he/she can give you a plan so you want miss any important vitamins/nutrients by cutting down certain types of food.

Good luck

Jo xx

[Duckybun]

Hi dancer, jojo gave you some great advice there. This only thing I would add is that when I started reading about the endo diet it took me a while to find out WHY it was important to cut out so many things. It's all about trying to reduce pain, there are a lot of foods which can cause an inflammatory reaction in people who have autoimmune conditions, wheat and dairy being the two main culprits. But apart from that there is also the need to reduce the estrogen dominance in our systems as this feeds the endo. That is why cutting out processes foods and animal products is so important. A lot of dairy produce contains hormones that are fed to cows to keep them lactating for milk production.... Ie estrogen, a lot of plastics and pesticides act esteogenically once consumed, also too much sugar I creates our estrogen and caffeine increases estrogen levels too. It is not a fad diet designed to torture you bit one that tries to eliminate foods that cause us pain and aggravate our endo and it is well worth doing.

Definitely go and see a nutritionist who specialises in women's health, and start eating organic and cooking from fresh, you will feel better for it, even if it takes a couple of months to get used to it and build up a stock pile of recipes that become your new 'old faithfuls' (shred the easy lasagne recipe your mum gave you years ago, it has all the baddies in one dish!!!)

Good luck and if you need any suggestions on snacks and breakfast, which atthe hardest ones to gt your head around, feel free to pm me

Xx

Ducky

[cjb-75]

I'm just considering making changes to my diet as well and I've been recommended Dian Shepperson Mills, she works from 2 clinics 1 in London and 1 in Sussex and also does phone / skype appointments. I've my first appointment this Friday, so as of yet don't have direct experience of her.

endometriosis.co.uk/Biosket...

haleclinic.com/therapist/di...

There are bound to be other's out there so ask for recommendations. Dian was recommended to me by a fellow sufferer and by an extended family member who is a nutritionist.

Good luck

[Dancer53]

Thank you all so much for ur advise and comments this is something I will definitely be looking into. I think a little at a time sounds good wish you all luck also x

[Dancer53]

Thank you all so much for ur advise and comments this is something I will definitely be looking into. I think a little at a time sounds good wish you all luck also x

[Laura92]

Hi Hun the girls are right about the endo diet but I would also advise you stay away from soya, I have found it makes a massive difference as soya is an eostrogen plant so it feeds endo, it is in nearly everything, basically the fresher the food the better off you are. Hope this helps x

[crystal_willow in reply to Laura92]

I read about soya having phyto oestrogens so I cut out soy milk... which I switched to originally because of my acne.... cant win lol... I have oat milk now and its so yummy!!!!

[komeara]

Hi dancer53, I recently started the endo diet and am definitely doing it one step at a time.

I've cut out gluten and wheat pretty much 100%, about 80% cut out sugars, caffeine and dairy. I'm hopeless at planning ahead and a terrible cook so it's not easy but I'm determined to give it a go and see if it helps in anyway.

I've decided if I fall of the bandwagon, I won't beat myself up (any pain will probably do that for me ) but I'm trying to put a bit less pressure on me to keep me going, if that makes sense.

Good luck with whatever diet path you decide!

x

[Annierossi]

I'm new to this site but read the above with great interest. Many thanks to all.

x

[Dancer53]

Thank you all so much for ur advise and comments this is something I will definitely be looking into. I think a little at a time sounds good wish you all luck also x

[crystal_willow]

Some people swear by these diets... (others swear at them lol)

These exclusion diets can be quite extreme and not everyone reacts the same way to these foods. I would start by keeping a food/symptom diary for 2 weeks with your current diet.

That way you can look at making gradual changes which you are far more likely to suceed at AND when you adjust your diet gradually you prevent yourself from cutting anything out that you dont need to cut out.

so 2 weeks diary (food and symptom.. compare diaries where you have changed something to this one as a control)

2 weeks - start making a change i.e. switch to wholegrains (which i recommended anyway)

assess whether it helped you..

2 weeks - adjust /step it up i.e. reduce wheat by half

assess whether it helped you...

2 weeks - adjust/step it up or maintain i.e reduce further or cut it out/ give up cutting out wheat cause its not the culprit and try something else or maintain at current levels

assess again whether it has helped with your symptoms or whether its just given you a sense of control which makes you feel better (placebo)

I would personally recommend adding omega 3 to your diet either in pill of food form at this is backed up by research and does reduce inflammatory reactions (as well as providing a host of other benefits) so if you want to change just one thing to start with Omega 3 is a good place to start.

Good luck