Hello, friends. I have not written in awhile.
This is a post for all the ladies, and all the men who love ladies. If you are looking for how to manage endometriosis with your diet, this might be the post for you.
I need to start with a few things:
1. I am not a medical professional. Please talk to your doctors. Do not rely on this information for treatment.
2. I did not have surgery to find out if I actually have endometriosis. I have been to 5 different doctors, 2 of which are specialists in pelvic health, and both of the specialists said I most likely have endometriosis.
PLEASE NOTE – I had to find the specialists on my own. Neither my primary care nor my OB referred me or offered to help me find more resources. I say this because we HAVE to take our health into our own hands. Do not give up.
Also, I chose to not have surgery to find out for sure if I have endometriosis. As of 2025, the only way you will know if you have endometriosis is if you have surgery. Going under the knife is not what I wanted for me. Everyone is different, and I respect your decision on this matter. Menstrual pain is no joke: I have not had kids but have been told by many friends who had natural childbirth and have endo that endo is more painful. I believe it.
All that said, I have had crippling menstrual cramps most of my life. For 20 years, I took the birth control pill to help with my symptoms, and it worked.
Then, in about 2011, I went on a huge health kick, moving from vegetarian to vegan, giving up alcohol (for a few years), began jogging, then practicing and then teaching yoga, and getting off the pill. I dropped over 50 pounds over the course of almost 2 years. I felt better than ever before.
But my periods started getting worse and worse. Over the counter pain meds didn’t work, heating pads were cute but ineffective, and then 2020 hit, and our world shut down, and maybe it was the fear of the government or the patriarchy taking over and women’s rights being taken away, or maybe just perimenopause fully hitting me, but my periods slowly started to become unbelievably painful.
For the first time in my life, I had to start calling in sick from work. I cancelled vacations. I cancelled plans with friends. I started opting out of most things… being vague about my availability, hiding at home, because I never knew when the pain would take over, when my period would kick in, when I’d be overcome with pain.
I would spend days in bed, crying, throwing up up to 6 times a day, not able to eat or drink, with constipation and diarrhea, laying on the bathroom floor, hoping that I would just die and all the pain would go away. Finally, magically, I would fall asleep, and several hours later, wake up and feel slightly human again.
This happened every single month.
I started talking to my doctors, and my friends, wondering who else was experiencing this, what is this, why is this happening, and I finally learned more about endometriosis and andomyosis.
I don’t know which one I have.
I don’t know if I have either, actually.
I just know I have intense, horrifying periods, and I know nothing worked. Prescription pain meds, a new set of birth control pills, tranexamic acid, marijuana, CBD…. nothing worked. For years I tested and tried whatever my doctors would prescribe.
Finally, in 2024, I went to a pelvic health specialist, and she recommended that I take 6 weeks of steroid shots, a daily suppository, and weekly pelvic floor physical therapy.
At the end of my appointment, as she was getting ready to leave, I said, what about my diet? For several weeks before this appointment, I had been buying multiple books – anything about endo or adenomyosis, and devouring the content. A lot of those books came back to what we eat, what kind of stress is in our lives, and how much tension we hold in our bodies.
My new doctor replied, you know, you might want to get a copy of Beating Endo. Some of my patients say it helped.
I immediately drove back to Fort Worth and re-read the book. Most of the diet part I had already started, but I didn’t want to face all of her suggestions, because, I’m already vegan over here… what else do I have to give up?? But I took it to heart.
And it worked.
8 months later, I’m able to have a normal period.
I don’t have to cancel future vacations.
I don’t have to call in sick to work.
I don’t have to hide.
I can have a real life. My body is now in alignment with my life.
I never did the steroid shots, or the daily suppositories. I did go to a pelvic floor physical therapist one time. She told me I was tight, and I needed to chill.
This is what I did, and this is straight from that book. This is how to manage endometriosis with your diet.
Dr. Orbuch says to avoid pro-inflammatory foods. She says to do this through trial and error – to give them up for a set time and see how your body feels. I gave them all up for 2 months, and then began to add them back in to see how I would do.
This is just what worked for me. Please try to see what works for your body.
Every body is different.
How to Manage Endometriosis with Your Diet
Remove all: dairy, gluten, soy, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and alcohol.
Yep, all of it.
Two months in, I added gluten back into my diet.
Three months in, I added soy back into my diet.
Alcohol, sugar, and sweeteners – at this time in my life, I plan to never add them back in. Dairy is easy for me to continue giving up, although it’s harder when eating out, so I’m back to being more strict when I’m at restaurants. Thankfully, it is getting easier and easier to order vegan foods while out.
Now, there’s birthdays and celebrations, so yes, I’ll have a treat here and there. But for me, alcohol is a forever-no. It’s the most inflammatory thing we can put in our bodies, and quite frankly I believe it was the main culprit with my menstrual pain.
I also have acid reflux, which many endo sufferers have as well. For me, I also removed coffee, chocolate, and most tomatoes and citrus fruits from my diet. This has helped tremendously.
I did all of this at the same time. It’s been 8 months, and my periods are manageable.
Most days, I do not even need pain meds. On my heaviest days, some months I cannot get by without prescription strength naproxen. More recently, the over-the-counter naproxen works just fine. And I’m down to 2 pain meds a month, from upwards of 20 a month of the over-the-counter pain meds.
To say that my periods are manageable and that I did not need surgery or additional meds is beyond anything I would have comprehended. I cannot put into words the years of crippling pain I endured. If you are reading this, you probably know this pain, and my goodness, I do not want that for you.
I believe that these diet changes are what worked the most for me. I am a firm believer in letting food be thy medicine. I believe this because many times in my life, I have seen it to be true.
Dr. Orbuch also goes through what to add to our diets, mostly vegetables and grains, which is easy for us vegans. She goes through many stress-relieving tips and notes for those seeking pelvic floor physical therapy as well. It’s a fantastic resource and I highly recommend you picking it up. I have at least 10 books on endo, and this one is the one I recommend the most.
Her other suggestions I took to heart as well: I have been working on adding more space in my life outside of work, I have been meditating daily, taking more walks, I joined a Pilates studio, and have worked to relieve tension from my body.
It’s a process. I have a new therapist, a new leadership coach, and a new enneagram coach. I have an acupuncturist who I swear by. I added in monthly massages, thanks to the suggestion of my enneagram coach, and am working on processing my feelings, really feeling my emotions. It literally takes a village. Find and surround yourself with those who will support you on this journey. This is not cheap, but neither is surgery. Neither are specialist doctor visits and neither are pain meds, steroid shots, and suppositories.
What I have learned is all inflammatory diseases come on slowly: it’s not like BAM you have this. It’s been building in your body for decades. The patterns we default to, the emotions we hold back, the tension we keep, the things we eat… all of this can create inflammatory issues with our bodies over time.
It’s our choice in life on how we manage this. For me, I do not want surgery. I do not want drugs. I want relief.
Relief for me came from eating the right foods, being in the right mindset, and treating my body with love just like I would my dearest friends.
It’s a lifelong process, and I’m here for it.
If you’re looking for how to manage endometriosis with your diet, I hope this is a good starting place for you. I hope you find release from pain. I hope you’re able to move more freely, to process what’s deep inside, to love yourself, and to heal. I hope these tips help you. Please do not give up if they do not. Please continue trying to find answers. Please continue talking with your doctors, your friends, your loved ones. Please try to not let this keep overtaking your life. I understand these words can be triggering. I hope you find peace.
This is what worked for me, and I fully understand that what works this month might not work next month. At 44, I have several more years to battle this out. I plan to do so gently, with listening, loving, and eating healthy foods.
I hope you find the peace and healing you so deserve.
Peace to you, light to you, love to you –
Jen
PS – I do not, and never will, use AI on this blog. These are my words, so there will be typos, it’ll be messy, and it might be unreadable in parts. That’s the human experience. I’m here for it.