Healing Endometriosis With Diet: How I Regained Control Of My Health
- R. A. Fletcher
- Jan 27
- 6 min read
The day I was diagnosed with Endometriosis, all I felt was relief. I had a shorter diagnosis journey than most, but that doesn’t mean it was any easier. At the time, I had no idea what was still in store for me. I remember learning that there is no cure for Endometriosis and feeling like a part of my spirit died. On the other hand, I was pain-free for the first time in years. Talk about mixed emotions.
I started experiencing symptoms in 2006, when I started menstruating, but they were largely dismissed as teenage hormones until 2009, when I passed out from the pain. After six months of bed rest and a whole lot of medical procedures, I finally had a diagnosis. Three times in my life, I was evaluated for life-threatening complications. Twice, I was faced with the very real possibility that I would lose the ability to walk right, if at all. Once, I lost a child in utero. I could have let Endometriosis take everything from me. But one day, I decided it was time to take my life, and my health, back.
Discovering The Endometriosis Diet
When I was first diagnosed with Endometriosis in 2010, there was hardly any research about the relationship between Endo and diet. A few studies from the 1990s had reviewed the relationship between the consumption of certain fats and the development of the disease, but that didn’t really help someone dealing with the symptoms on a daily basis. In 2010, a single research study was released with the same focus.
But I didn’t care how I got Endometriosis; I wanted to know how to treat it.
Starting in 2012, small studies emerged focused on specific foods such as gluten and red meat. At the time, I remember my mom tried to convince me to change my eating habits. Back then, she called herself “crunchy,” which was a term to describe people who embraced organic, natural, and holistic living. Even though we lived on a farm, her shift to only organic was new to our household, and it took me a long time to take her seriously. I did make a few attempts to reduce my wheat intake, but red meat was hard for me.
Even now, there haven’t been any comprehensive, large studies that provide a holistic view of dietary influences on Endometriosis treatment and symptom management. In other words, any woman who has learned to manage Endo with diet has probably done it mostly without the support of their doctors. However, movements like Food Is Medicine, which began gaining traction after policy changes in 2016, have helped raise awareness of the benefits of maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet for individuals with chronic illness.
What I (and others) call the Endometriosis Diet is really just an anti-inflammatory diet that women have cultivated through trial and error and community collaboration. I don’t need a medical study to tell me this works. Since I changed my diet in 2019, I have lived surgery-free with only a single emergency room visit (as of 2026).
A Sample Of The Endo Diet: Curating My Life Around Holistic Health
After Endometriosis played a significant role in my divorce in 2019, followed by my sixth surgery and a diagnosis of nerve damage, I needed something to change. By this time, I had tried literally every medication on the market that my insurance would cover. I even begged my doctor to remove my ovaries, which she wouldn't agree to. I remember breaking down one night, crying on the floor (half from pain, half from mental exhaustion) and calling my mom. We didn’t talk about diet, but the conversation was the first step to looking at my health in a new way.
Soon after, I stopped looking for Endometriosis treatments, and I started looking for anti-inflammatory foods. I had worked with several health and wellness brands on blog posts about foods that had anti-inflammatory properties, and I was interested to see if adding these things to my diet helped. Throughout my research, I found that there were also plenty of things in my diet that weren’t helping.
The following is a summary of the diet I follow today, but keep in mind that every person is different. Some foods I avoid because of personal sensitivity, not because it impacts inflammation for everyone. Keep an eye out on The Endo Diet blog for more research-backed food recommendations.
Foods I avoid at all costs:
Dairy products: yogurt is the worst for me, but sadly, milk and yellow cheese are also triggers. Luckily, white cheese has different enzymes that I can digest without inflammation, so it’s not a total loss.
Soy: I don’t even chance it. Research goes both ways on whether soy should be avoided or added to an anti-inflammatory diet, but I’ve had bad experiences.
Pork: This is half spiritual belief and half health-related. Most people argue that they can’t give up bacon, but turkey bacon or crisped smoked salmon tastes just as good on a BLT, and I don’t feel like crap after eating them.
Almonds and Shellfish: These have nothing to do with my Endo, but it's worth noting that anything can be a trigger, even if it’s supposedly helpful. Most sources claim individuals with Endo should include these in their diets, but they do not work for me.
Foods I eat only on occasion:
Beef: I eat beef once a month during my period. It gives me the extra iron, protein, and energy I need to supplement the blood loss (it has been significant enough to send me to the hospital in the past).
Soda: If there is another option, I usually choose non-soda drinks, but I won’t turn away a cold Coke if it’s offered.
Alcohol: I enjoy a nice glass of Moscotto, White Zinfandel, or Sweet Red, but in moderation. There have been times when I have been known to drink one glass per day during the week and enjoy a bottle or two with my husband on the weekend, but my body can’t keep up at that pace. More realistically, I drink 2 or 3 glasses a week when I go on a wine kick every few months. I avoid all other alcohol most of the year.
Foods I eat weekly:
Fish: I prefer salmon, but on occasion, I will try something new. The Omega-3s found in fish are one of the only foods proven to improve Endometriosis symptoms. I try to have fish once or twice per week.
Salad: Greens are so good for you. I try to eat salad daily, though I don’t always make it to the store often enough to keep fresh food on hand. When I am on track, I eat salad every day for lunch. I like the chopped salad kits you can get from the store. I started doing this after watching a motivational speaker with worse chronic issues talk about how she ate 9 cups of greens per day, and it kept her out of a wheelchair. Don't knock it 'til you try it.
Avocados: Lean fats are great for people with Endometriosis, and avocados are delicious. Mostly, I just love them. I try to eat them 3 or 4 times a week.
Coffee: This one is going to be controversial. Most people say to avoid caffeine for Endometriosis. However, after my struggles with seizures, my neurologist suggested regular, controlled caffeine intake to protect from migraines and seizures, and it worked! I don’t question it, but I also try not to overdo it. I try to limit it to 12 oz per day, but never exceed 24 oz.
A Word Of Advice
If you are going to make changes to your diet, keep a diary or make one change at a time. Not only are smaller changes easier for your body to adjust to, which reduces cravings, but it is also easier to see the direct impact on your health. After I cut out dairy, I would slip up every now and then. It was so easy to see that if I drank a glass of milk, I had cramps within 6 hours, but if I ate yogurt, pain was almost instant.
When adding to your diet, take breaks. If you consume the same things daily, like coffee or tea, your body builds up a tolerance and stops reaping the benefits. Take at least a week's break from daily consumption habits every three months. This gives your body time to reset. If you have multiple daily consumption habits, stagger the breaks so you aren’t cutting things out all at once.
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