I have Ulcerative Colitis and have always wondered about its connection with what I ate. I convinced a doctor to do a food sensitivity test on me. (He didn't want to because he thought my symptoms were just symptoms of the colitis, not a sensitivity) The only thing that came back positive on the test was a very minor allergy to mustard. This was disappointing to me because I hate mustard and would never intentionally eat it anyway.

Last fall I did the super strict 30 day paleo elimination diet. I cut out all dairy, nightshades, onions, nuts, eggs, etc. I can't believe I lasted 30 days, but somehow I did. I did not properly introduce things though, so I didn't feel confident that anything had an effect. Very much a waste of time if you don't reintroduce the foods one by one slowly. So really your 30 day elimination should be considered 30 days free + 30 days trial and error.

Since then, I've got back to eating normal primal. I have however been able to notice a connection between coconut flakes and my colitis acting up. Coconut milk is fine for me though. And just a week or so ago, I had eggplant for the first time in months, and got an instant headache that lasted a day or two. Eggplant is now on my forbidden list. I also noticed that every Sunday after eating at our regular breakfast diner, I'd have a stomach ache. I realized the Sunday brunch toast that was my weekly cheat was most likely the cause. Forbidden listed that too.


I hope that gives you insight and guidance. Good luck!

Today, I'm wondering how to tell if the hot sauce I just ate is a normal reaction (watery eyes, burning mouth, congested lungs, burning in stomach, etc....) or might indicate that this is irritating my gut in a way that is NOT helpful. Whether an intolerance or not. Any ideas? Google has not been helpful here - nor Bing.

Think about it: if you were tasting something OTHER than a chile, how would you interpret your body's response?

We teach/force ourselves to like/endure so many marginal foods. Things that are bitter like coffee; or cause gastric distress like chiles; or burn like alcohol.

I think only the Whole 30 frowns on bacon...not the Paleo Autoimmune. I eat it almost every day, or else I might not endure this! But it doesn't have junk in it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/tests-for-food-allergies-sensitivities-a-waste-of-money-doctor-says/article535082/
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/21/is-food-sensitivity-a-scam

The articles above are just food for thought. I have had formal testing at an allergiest and he found some sensitivities using the traditional tests, but I know I have others. I have never tried the labs. As I understand the lab tests they are not very conclusive if you have not eaten the foods being tested in the last week or so, so if you try this after an elimination diet you won't get what you expect.

I found an elimination and low introduction diet with a comprehensive food diary where I also logged all headaches, body aches, sniffling, itching, tinnitus, geographic tongue, mouth blisters, runny eyes, etc helped the most. You must be eating clean while you do this as additives are often the sensitivity and you must try to introduce them one at a time. Remember that the sensitivity can take up to 3 days to show up with symptoms, and sometimes only when you have ingested beyond your tolerance point.

Where do you find bacon without added sugar and nitrates as part of the curing process?

Buy it fresh. You can usually get either pork belly or 'side pork' from your butcher, and they'll slice it for you. Salt it yourself when you cook it - it tastes better than bacon in my opinion. What do nitrates taste like, anyway?
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Thanks!

I haven't cut all those - but I did do a Strict Paleo with a bunch of people and one of the women cut out most of what you described to see if it would help the issues she was having...

I think allergy testing can only go so far - especially depending on which way they do it - and could result in negative results (I say this because my daughter had extensive blood work done for lactose and casien allegies and the tests came back normal - I had to press for the Hydrogen breath test - even after being told the chances of testing postive after all the blood work was extremely slim...but considering they wanted to send a endoscope down her I insisted on the breath test first since that would be definiative and BAM... )

Also once you clear things out of your system you may find certain things really do affect you. I did a whole system cleanse a while back (prior to doing full on Paleo) and learned my body had some bad reactions to certain foods - weird things like white mushrooms...if I eat white mushrooms I get very sick to my stomach - other mushrooms are just fine...