Living with Endometriosis- Changing Diet and Lifestyle

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Endometriosis | Miss.Conception Coach - Preconception

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It has been two days since I decided I would try changing my diet and lifestyle in effort to combat the suffering I have been having with the Endometriosis. I concluded everything I was eating was contributing to my condition, so I needed to start incorporating better foods into my diet.

The first thing I took away was coffee. This is a big deal for me because I love coffee. But being sick two times a month I couldn’t drink it, so it wasn’t very hard to give up. It is still the first thing I crave when I wake, but I have replaced it with tea, and I fill my coffee maker up with hot water to make it.

The teabags I have are Organic Ginger Aid made by Traditional Medicinals. Ginger is good for inflammation and promotes healthy digestion. I love these teas and they are naturally caffeine free. On the back of the box it shows the benefits of ginger which are that it relieves occasional indigestion and prevents nausea associated with motion.

I wouldn’t say I am a big fan of drinking tea, but it is hot and is a fine replacement for my coffee… for now. I plan on getting some decaf coffee soon. Taking caffeine from my diet has made a difference. I feel less bloated and crampy. Caffeine is known to dehydrate the body and is not good for you at all. I will need to find more drinks such as orange juice to replace the soda and sweet tea but cutting caffeine as of day 2 has been easy and is already beneficial to me.

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10 Deadly Foods for Endometriosis That You Eat Everyday

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I replaced my usual chicken tenders and fries with a salad the first night. I did forget to take off the croutons and cheddar cheese, but it was a good start. I am trying my best not to eat any dairy products, and this has proven to be hard because we put cheese on everything. I didn’t think I was a big cheese fan until I wanted to take it out of my diet. Now I love cheese!

Today I made a list in my mind of all the cheeses I wasn’t allowed to have and would need to avoid. Feta cheese, blue cheese, provolone cheese, parmesan cheese. This non-dairy part of the diet is going to be the toughest. I was going to take milk out of my diet, but that would be very hard, so I am allowing myself a glass of milk here and there.

Everything I need milk to make comes from a box or has ingredients such as cheese that I don’t need to be eating, so I guess I won’t be needing as much milk for cooking as I normally would. My cabinets are full of boxed and canned goods which I should be avoiding, so it will be a while before I can make meals without them.

I did break down and make cupcakes last night. I then felt bad and cut up some carrot sticks to snack on, so I wasn’t tempted to eat all the cakes. I cut up the carrot sticks and put them in a sandwich bag. They will last a day or two like this. I did need to dip them in ranch dressing though. I really don’t think I can eat all these vegetables without Ranch (which is a diary product). We must be realistic about this.

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What Dairy Does to Periods

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I am choosing the anti-inflammatory foods I like from the list to start. I already love salad, so this will be my main course. But instead of adding the cheese and the croutons, I will be adding sunflower seeds and flaxseeds if I can find them. I have also decided I could throw on some tuna and some boiled eggs from time to time.

For snacks I plan on munching on raw broccoli, blueberries and walnuts, all anti-inflammatory foods. I am also planning on making some pumpkin seeds and getting some bananas. These are foods that are known to reduce pain. I love spinach, so this too will make its way onto the dinner plate. For the Omega- 3 I will be eating salmon and tuna. I will try sardines again, but I don’t like them.

I plan on getting some liver which is rich in iron and cooking it up with some onions. I haven’t gone online to look up recipes, but I have a stack of Rachel Ray magazines I will finally have a reason to read. I think the biggest difference will be made once I take a daily vitamin. But to be sure I get the vitamin C I need I will also be making some smoothies.

This diet seems very boring and time consuming since it would be faster and easier to eat a fast food burger than to prepare a bunch of fruit and vegetables. Did I mention McDonalds has introduced the McRib for a limited time? The devil is real ya’ll I’m telling you!

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Inflamed | Endometriosis Diet | Pinterest | Food

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As for the exercise I have successfully managed to do 20 minutes of cardio each day the past two days. I am doing Zumba, which is way out of my league, but I did manage to do 20 minutes without needing an ambulance. I am confident that if I can talk myself into it, Zumba will be easier to do over time. I did find a very good Zumba video for anyone who would like to try it.

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Full Cardio Dance Fitness Class - includes warm-up and cool down! | Groove Fitness

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The video is very long, and I only did 20 minutes of it so don’t be too impressed just yet. I do wish they had these when I was in my 20s and thought I needed to exercise to stay in shape. Youth is wasted on the young. To my surprise, my body did the workout while my mind was saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

This Zumba routine has highlighted my need to quit smoking. I am using a timer on my phone that notifies me when I can smoke. The timer increases every day so that the time between each cigarette is increased. The goal is to reduce two smokes day. I have been using this method for the past year or two and keep resetting it or ignoring it.

This time I hope to try a little harder since I really, really need to quit smoking for good. I was also considering using the nicotine patch. A three-day coma would probably be my best bet, but I know I’d just wake up and smoke, so even that wouldn’t help. I think the more I exercise and increase my energy eating better food, the less desire I will have to smoke so much. We’ll see.

Make a comment if you have a good vegetable recipe that has no cheese in it.

Thanks for reading!!!

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