Endometriosis - Food to Avoid

When I had my first lap last year, I didn't aware of endometriosis diet. However, I was managed to keep my diet simple and plain, and tried getting more fruits and greens. The only food that I was still eating were dairy products. I took ice cream, yogurts, milk, etc. It lasted for 2 months (silly me!), until one day i thought of searching for info on endo diet, and many links came up!

Endo is feeding on estrogen, which found from:

• body
• food   (me trying best to follow strictly on the recommendation)
• toiletries/cosmetics (me trying to change one by one slowly)

 What are the major categories of food to avoid:

Wheat (Gluten)
Why: Wheat has gluten which women with endo are sensitive to.
What: pasta, bread, noodle, cake, etc.
Me: This is a hard one for me, as noodles, pastry are my favourite. I cut out all kinds of noodles, opt for rice made products like rice vermicelli, and gluten free spaghetti. I replace flour with gluten free baking mix (I will share more recipes of my own).

Caffeine
Why: Caffeine increases estrogen levels.
What: coffee, tea, chocolate.
Me: This is #2 hard one for me. I love coffee so much! I missed the aroma, and now I have to keep myself away from it. Well, once in a week, I still take a few sips on it (sinful!).

Red Meat / Dairy Products
Why: They cause inflammation and contain growth hormones.
What: pork, beef, burger, milk, cheese, butter.
Me: I personally find cutting out red meat, makes me feel much better for some reason. Butter can be easily found in many food, like pastry. Therefore, i stopped baking cakes with butter, and looked for recipe that replaced with oil. Why oil ? because It's easy to get like olive oil, grapeseed oils. Other alternative of butter are harder to find within my area.

Soy Products
Why: Soy contains phyto-estrogen which may trigger endometriosis.
What: tofu, soy milk.
Me: To my surprise, my first gynae told me this - keep away from soy product! So i followed.

Refined Sugar / Honey
Why: inflammation agent.
What: all products use defined sugar, like soft drink, coffee, sweet pastry.
Me: I'm getting used to eliminate sugar from my food as much as possible. I replace them with organic cane sugar when it's needed like baking. Once you get used to it, you'll be doing good!


After all, what mentioned are just for reference.  You shall talk to your doctor or dietitian on the diet you have doubts.

What's your experiences ?