The Endo Undo Diet

As you can see by the luscious veggie photo on our blog entrypage, a lot of this project is about food, food, and more food.  Diet was one of the biggest things we worked on as we formulated our plan.  So, what foods should you be eating?  We have compiled a summary here, though we'll get more specific in future posts.
There are lots of great resources about the "endometriosis diet," (will list some resources at the end of the post) so we used that as a starting point.  Basically, you want to eat foods that enhance your body's immune defense-- so, that would be veggies, fruits, more veggies, more fruits.  These are nature's miracles.  They come pre-packed with thousand of phytonutrients that help to fight cancer, ward off disease, and make our bodies work better.  So the basis of any good endometriosis diet (or ANY diet!) must be tons of fruits and vegetables.Since estrogen levels are a big component of endometriosis symptoms, our diet focuses on foods that don't increase estrogens in the body, or mimic estrogens.
Below is an overview of the diet we are starting with for our project: (We will be tinkering with it as we go and as we learn new things in our research, so we'll keep you apprised of the latest)

No:
-No red meat
-No refined sugar (or at least as little as humanly possible)
-No refined flours
-No caffeine
-No alcohol (Ellen doesn't drink; I have a glass of red very occasionally)
-No processed soy
-No highly-processed foods
-No wheat
-Hydrogenated oils and trans fats

Limited:
-Organic poultry (organic only!  very important not to ingest any hormones like you find in conventional meats)
-Dairy (try to greatly reduce cow's milk products-- switch to goat or sheep milk products when possible)
-Whole grains:  brown rice, millet, quinoa, barley, etc..
-Organic eggs
-Healthy oils, including:  extra-virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil (in tiny amounts!), flax oil (do not heat)

As much as possible:
-Vegetables (5 servings per day ideal)
**Cruciferous vegetables are especially good for endometriosis.  This includes kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, arugula, mustard greens, etc.  Try to have 2 servings of these per day
-Fruits
-Beans (try to eat some every day)
-Nuts/Seeds (these are very healthy, but they do contain a lot of fat, so limit your consumption if you are trying to lose weight
-Fresh filtered water
-Herbal teas

Here are some resources to help you get started on your very own nutritional plan:

Endo Resolved website:   www.endo-resolved.com/diet
Recipes for Endometriosis Diet by Carolyn Levett
Endometriosis: Healing through Nutrition by Dian Shepperson Mills
Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Karr
Fibroid Tumors and Endometriosis: Self Help Book, by Dr. Susan Lark