Endometriosis — There’s Hope Series: Malnutrition Plays a Major Role

There's hope to alleviate your pain and calm your symptoms. In the fourth and final installment of this series, you'll learn the relationship between Endometriosis and Malnutrition.

Jun 24, 2025

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of The Haven’s Endometriosis — There’s Hope Series! Here, we’ve broken down facets of this disease and explored how to approach care through a holistic lens — beyond the limiting perspective of endo as solely a gynecological condition.

If this is the first article you are seeing in this series, I encourage you to go back and read our first 3 installments in the order we published them to support your understanding.

READ OR LISTEN:

To round out this series, we’re discussing how to approach endometriosis through the lens of malnutrition.

Nutritional Deficiencies May Contribute to Endometriosis

poached egg with vegetables and tomatoes on blue plate

Don’t let the “may” in this title keep you from paying close attention to how nutrition — and malnutrition — can impact your hormone health.

I say “may” because limited research has been conducted and published about the relationship between endometriosis and nutritional deficiencies (Fun crazy fact: Women weren’t included in medical studies until 1993, so science is still catching up).

In my personal healing journey, though, changing my food healed 70% of my inflammation and endo symptoms (other holistic practices took care of the rest).

I also learned that approximately 80% of women diagnosed with endometriosis are also malnourished — it’s no wonder changing your food habits, then, could have such a big impact!

Think of food this way: It’s a substance, external to self, that you introduce into your body multiple times a day, that has the power to support the homeostasis of your body — or to disrupt it in major ways.

All of this information made me extra curious about my own nutritional levels and the status of my gut health. When I started viewing food as a way to support my body and healing, it drastically changed the choices I’ve made for both what and how I eat.

A Healthy Gut Absorbs Nutrients

Yes, nutrition is about food, but it’s also very much about your gut. You can eat all the nutritionally dense food in the world, and it will support you in so many ways, but it won’t support you in all the ways you need it to if you have poor gut health.

Why? Your gut metabolizes the nutrients from the food you consume and sends them off into your bloodstream to do the good work for your body.

Your gut goes through this same process when you consume any processed ingredients or preservatives that are sadly so common in a lot of foods today. However, in this case, instead of flowing into your bloodstream to care for your body’s needs, these intruders — as I like to call them — attack your gut lining, overwork your liver, and put your immune system on high alert.

You don’t want that.

So, while you focus on your nutrition — on ensuring your body gets the vitamins and minerals it needs for healthy blood flow, good oxygen circulation, cellular repair, and combating inflammation and endometrial lesions — don’t forget to focus on your gut health. A healthy gut will support you mentally and physically and keep you out of survival mode.

Where to Start

Here are 3 ways I used this understanding of nutrition and gut health to change the way I ate — and you can, too. I hope these tips can help you the way they helped me: by minimizing and eliminating pain, reducing inflammation, and healing your gut.

1. Focus on Real, Healing Whole Foods

When it comes to incorporating the right vitamins and minerals for your body, let “food first” be your mantra. Above anything else, focus on getting the nutrients you need from whole foods before resorting to other methods like supplements.

Introduce, Don’t Restrict: When making changes, large or small, it’s easier and more exciting to introduce new things rather than focusing solely on what to cut. This approach, called crowding, helps you more easily “crowd out” old behaviors or habits by introducing new, better ones to replace them. So, start introducing new nutrient-dense choices and recipes to your diet.
- Bonus Tip: Begin with breakfast. Master making balanced and nourishing meals over several weeks until it becomes second nature. Once you have that down, move on to lunch and then dinner.

Reduce or Eliminate What Doesn’t Serve You: Whether you’re honest with yourself about it or not, you probably know what foods don’t make you feel your best — even if they’re your favorites (cue my ugly cry). I get it. But the truth is, if it doesn’t feel good (i.e., if you experience bloating after eating, stomach cramping, fatigue, pain, or inflammation), it isn’t doing good in your body. Limit these foods and allow your new, nourishing meals to take up more space. This gives your gut the break it needs to heal and properly absorb nutrients.
- Note: I’m not saying you can never eat your favorite foods again; however, I am asking you to pay attention to your body’s signals about food, and to let that guide you on a regular basis.

2. Understand Your Blood Work

The numbers in blood work aren’t the be-all and end-all. They can, however, provide a snapshot of what’s going on in your body — beyond just how you’re feeling.

Before taking any supplements, I highly recommend you request a full blood panel from your primary care physician or health care provider. This will help you:

Know your specific sufficiencies and deficiencies.
Take the right supplements at the right dosage.
Have a baseline to track your progress against over time.

You can learn about this in a little more detail in our Haven Article, Bloodwork: Why it is crucial to know your bloodwork for your health as a woman.

Read Here

3. Add Herbs and Supplements When Needed

Look at supplements as the supporting cast but never the main character. If you use them wisely and responsibly, they can certainly support your health. Here’s how to make them work for you:

Do your research: Not all supplements are created equal.
Look at the ingredients: What is on the label or otherwise advertised may not capture the full picture. Do your due diligence.
Look for third-party testing: Sadly, the supplement industry has little oversight. A third-party testing website can provide additional support when deciding which supplement or brand to choose.

For additional guidance, read Considerations When Choosing Supplements by Maya Shetty, BS from Stanford Lifestyle Medicine.

Endometriosis: There’s Hope Series

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