At the endo the day stop Feeding The Beast

“What You Eat Matters — How Food Triggers Endometriosis Symptoms”

Written & read by Elizabeth Castle

Today, I want to talk about something that a lot of us with endometriosis know instinctively…

But the medical system rarely explains properly:

Food absolutely affects endometriosis.

And no, this isn’t just some clean-eating Instagram thing.

There’s hard science behind it and I’m going to break it down clearly, so you know what’s really going on in your body.

Let’s start with the basics:

Endometriosis is an inflammatory, immune-driven, hormone-sensitive disease.

That means anything that increases

Inflammation

Oestrogen dominance

Immune dysfunction

Or puts extra pressure on your liver or gut…can make your symptoms worse.

Let’s break down the biggest dietary triggers:

1. Sugar

When you eat sugar especially refined sugar it causes your blood sugar and insulin to spike.

This promotes inflammation and worsens hormonal imbalance, particularly oestrogen levels. And if you’re already oestrogen dominant, sugar makes that worse.

It also disrupts your gut bacteria, and your gut microbiome plays a big role in regulating oestrogen.

More sugar = more chaos….more chaos= more pain.

2. Gluten

Now, not everyone reacts to gluten but many women with endometriosis do.

Gluten can make the gut lining leaky, triggering what’s called intestinal permeability.

That lets bacteria and toxins slip into the bloodstream and fire up your immune system.

And for those of us already dealing with a hypersensitive immune response, it just adds fuel to the fire.

There’s a 2012 study that found 75% of women with endo had reduced pain when they cut out  gluten. I’m one of them…That’s not a fad that’s data!

3. Dairy

Dairy’s another big one.

It’s not just about lactose intolerance although that can definitely cause bloating and pain.

Dairy contains natural hormones, including oestrogen, this can disrupt your own hormonal balance.

Plus, the proteins in dairy (especially casein A1) can be inflammatory for sensitive people, especially if you’ve already got a reactive gut.

Many women find cutting dairy helps with bloating, period pain, and hormonal skin flare-ups.

Again….i’m one of them!

4. Synthetic Foods and Additives

Processed foods are full of chemicals your body was never designed to deal with

emulsifiers, flavourings, colourings, preservatives they’re everywhere!

Many of these are endocrine disruptors, meaning they mimic or block hormones.

They mess with your oestrogen, your immune system, and even your gut bacteria.

Ultra-processed foods increase systemic inflammation, confuse your immune system, and leave your liver working overtime to detox.

Your body is already under pressure you don’t need that kind of toxic over load.

Everything in moderation!

By all means if you want to go hard core and cut it out completely go for it! But it’s hard, because it’s in everything! I get that, so moderation is key!

5. Caffeine & Energy Drinks

I see you all on TikTok supping away on energy drinks whilst taking pain relief! Let me tell you why that is so incredibly unhealthy for you and endometriosis. It really does go overlooked because caffeine is part of our everyday existence, we wake up in the uk, what do we have? We have a cup of tea! We have a cup of coffee! “Oh I’ll just go get another cup of tea” “I’ll have another cup of coffee” and now we have ENERGY DRINKS! That a lot of younger girls, I see they are living on energy drinks.

Caffeine is a nervous system stimulant, and in small doses, some people tolerate it ie your cup of tea in the morning!

But for many women with endometriosis, it causes:

Increased anxiety and tension

Worsened cramps and uterine contractions

Disrupted sleep, which you need to recover l

And it can affect oestrogen metabolism, especially when consumed in high doses.

Energy drinks are worse they don’t just have caffeine, they’ve got synthetic sweeteners, chemical stimulants, and artificial preservatives basically all the things that inflame the body at once.

And if your adrenals and nervous system are already fried from chronic pain and stress… these drinks are pouring petrol on that fire.

High amounts of caffeine affect your endocrine system it

Raises Cortisol (Stress Hormone)

Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol (your body’s main stress hormone)

Chronic high cortisol can:                   Disrupt ovulation

• Lower progesterone

• Contribute to oestrogen dominance

• Worsen inflammation and fatigue

• If you already have HPA axis dysregulation (burnout, adrenal fatigue), caffeine adds strain.

Alters Oestrogen Levels

• Studies show caffeine can affect oestrogen metabolism, especially in women.

  
  

  • A 2012 NIH study found Asian and Black women had increased oestrogen levels after caffeine intake.

  • In contrast, white women had slightly lower oestrogen — suggesting genetic and metabolic differences

• This matters because endometriosis and adenomyosis are oestrogen-driven conditions.

For all races this matters! For all sexes this matters! Men, women! This matters!

It Impairs your Thyroid Function (in some cases)

• Caffeine can interfere with thyroid hormone absorption if taken too close to thyroid medication. I’m hopeful you are advised about that if your in thyroid medication.

• It can also increase metabolic demand, which worsens symptoms in people with hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s disease.

• It stimulates the nervous system, which may increase autoimmune flares in sensitive individuals.

It Disrupts Sleep = Hormone Imbalance

• Poor sleep lowers melatonin, progesterone, growth hormone, and insulin sensitivity.

• Caffeine has a half-life of up to 6–8 hours in some people, meaning your afternoon latte may still be active at midnight, silently disrupting hormone repair time.

It May Contribute to Insulin Resistance

• Some studies suggest high doses of caffeine (especially from energy drinks) can reduce insulin sensitivity.

• Insulin resistance fuels inflammation, fatigue, weight gain, and worsens hormonal imbalances like PCOS or endometriosis. Can you see the circle that forms?!

So… should you cut caffeine completely?

It depends on your body and your symptoms.

• For some, a small morning black tea or coffee might be okay.

• For others especially those with adrenal issues, severe endo pain, or poor sleep even one cup when you initially start detoxing can make things worse.

If  you’re unsure, try a 2–3 week caffeine-free trial and see how your body responds. I honestly think you will feel better…..

So what should we eat?

I tell everybody that’s freshly diagnosed with endometriosis, pcos, adenomyosis even fibroids, the first thing you need to do is get allergy food tests done! The York allergy testing kit is backed by the nhs, it’s the most trusted one that’s on the market, no I’m not sponsored by them! Nothing! But it’s the one that is backed by GP’s and it’s the one that I did. So it’s the gold standard really so it’s the one I’m going to recommend.

I say this because every endometriosis patient is different and one anti inflammatory diet is not going to work for all! Some people include bread in their anti inflammatory diet! I could never! 😄 because I can’t have wheat, yeast or gluten!

When you do these tests it will give you what inflames you! personally, to you, then you Taylor make your diet around those results!

For example, I’ll give you mine….

It came back with a whole host of things that I was consuming on a daily basis,

Gluten

Yeast which they put in everything by the way

Wheat

Dairy

And randomly black pepper!

They’re my main 5 things that I have to stay clear of

Gluten, yeast, wheat, dairy and black pepper, so an anti inflammatory diet that you see online would be useless for me! And I’ve done it before…and this is where that comment comes in online, and your trying to say all these things to empower women and you get that 1 comment that says “oh I tried this, I tried this for 6 months or I tried this for an entire year & it still didn’t work!” That’s because you didn’t Tailor it TO YOU!

It’s all about tailoring it TO YOU!

A suit that you buy the same as Joan’s down the road, same size same shop, it’s not gonna fit you the way it fits Joan is it?!

Because your different!

Everyone of us is different!

I implore you to get Allergy tests DONE!

You have to get this! This is your first step, your first step on the road to helping yourself and healing yourself, take back control! This is your first step!

Whilst your waiting for those allergy tests to arrive I’ll give you a really short summary of an anti inflammatory, natural and gentle on your gut diet!

You need….

Leafy greens, berries, oily fish, turmeric, ginger, flaxseeds

Gluten-free grains like quinoa, rice, or buckwheat

Dairy-free milks like almond, coconut, I think they even do cashew now. Personally I would stay away from oats that aren’t gluten free until you get your results back, as there is a high percentage of women with endo that they can’t tolerate gluten. You could be one of them!

Natural sources of energy like nuts, seeds, or magnesium-rich smoothies

Plenty of fibre to support hormone detox through the gut and liver

And water. Honestly, just drink more clean water. We need to flush our systems from the amount of sugar, caffeine, that we’ve all been ingesting!

You don’t need to eat perfectly.

This isn’t a “I’m better than you post!” This isn’t a judgemental post! This is a “girl….i got you” post! This is a post that says “please listen to me because, I can help you get back on your feet!” YOU have got to do the first steps though! What is it they say?…the first steps are the hardest ones on the journey…..but you CAN do it! YOU CAN.

You don’t need to eat perfectly

But when you’re living with endometriosis,

food isn’t just fuel, it’s part of your treatment.

You wouldn’t let a celiac live on gluten, dairy & bread and expect them to be well! So why are we expecting endometriosis patients to eat those things, consume those things and be well?

It doesn’t work….

Cutting out what inflames you isn’t about restriction.

It’s about making space for your body to heal, calm down, and cope better.

And ultimately take back control!

You deserve relief. You deserve to feel good in your own body.

And this is one part of the puzzle that you can control one plate at a time.

Now I don’t know if your anything like me but…a…..I do like to be in the driving seat! 😄

The way I describe endometriosis is quite different to most, I’ll do a post on it, but it got to a point in my life where this “BEAST” was literally driving me to a place where I didn’t wanna go, this place was hell on wheels! And he wanted me to park up there and leave me there!….no…..I don’t think so baby……, not this time!

Get out the car, get into the driving seat, cause he won’t fight you! He can’t! Because you ultimately control YOUR BODY. So get in the driving seat and sort your health out, take back control. Once you start taking control of this disease things start to become easier, I’m not gonna stand here and say it “heals you” but I am gonna stand here and say to you that it empowers you!

Until next time……..