Starting A Restrictive Diet - any advice?
Lady_Clarington
Posts: 76 Member
Morning everyone.
I'm currently undergoing tests for Crohns Disease having had "just live with it" IBS symptoms for a while. Now the doctor suggested that once the bloods come back (I'm to eat "normally" until then as they struggled to get any blood out of me so they might want some more) to start a very restricted diet for a month to give my stomach time to recover before we start slowly introducing foods back to see once and for all what is causing the reaction.
I will be allowed vegetables (peeled so they're easier to digest), non citric fruit (not apples), small portions of chicken, and water (I'm hoping a weak squash is allowed!!)
I've also added small potions of egg to this after bursting into tears in the car when I realised that egg didn't hide anything suspicious so shouldn't be a problem. Its like I've added a whole new food group to my menu! I think plain rice should be okay too as its gluten free I just need to do a little more research - surely it doesn't belong in the wheat / yeast group?
No sauces, no wheat, no gluten, no dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine, no fruit juices, no hidden sugars, no yeast, no nuts, no... well not a lot of anything. I even nervous of using the spices I've been adding to meals for years.
Unfortunately there isn't much support from the doctor in terms of HOW you do this and work are a bit shirty about me having time off for doctors appointments so I can't force the issue of seeing a nutritionist (I'm in the UK if that helps). I've looked at several websites but they just seem to confuse me.
I'm assuming (hoping!!) that a lot of people here will have done a restrictive diet of sorts before narrowing down their gluten intolerance. I'd be really grateful of any advice / suggestions that you might have.
Please help! I'll also be cooking for my partner who will be eating normally (understandably he hasn't shown any interest in joining me on this for moral support!) So I need to work out meals that I can eat that I can also prepare a little more to make an interesting meal for him. This means that of course I can't just empty the fridge / cupboards of temptation either.
As a note - I'd rather cook for him and ban him completely from the kitchen as strangely I'm often more ill after eating a meal he's cooked and because I want to keep cross contamination low just in case (he'd think nothing of "helping" by stirring a boiling pot with something he's just used for his meal or sharing pans to cook to ingredients at the same time. Unfortunately he doesn't understand how much this affects me.
I'm currently undergoing tests for Crohns Disease having had "just live with it" IBS symptoms for a while. Now the doctor suggested that once the bloods come back (I'm to eat "normally" until then as they struggled to get any blood out of me so they might want some more) to start a very restricted diet for a month to give my stomach time to recover before we start slowly introducing foods back to see once and for all what is causing the reaction.
I will be allowed vegetables (peeled so they're easier to digest), non citric fruit (not apples), small portions of chicken, and water (I'm hoping a weak squash is allowed!!)
I've also added small potions of egg to this after bursting into tears in the car when I realised that egg didn't hide anything suspicious so shouldn't be a problem. Its like I've added a whole new food group to my menu! I think plain rice should be okay too as its gluten free I just need to do a little more research - surely it doesn't belong in the wheat / yeast group?
No sauces, no wheat, no gluten, no dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine, no fruit juices, no hidden sugars, no yeast, no nuts, no... well not a lot of anything. I even nervous of using the spices I've been adding to meals for years.
Unfortunately there isn't much support from the doctor in terms of HOW you do this and work are a bit shirty about me having time off for doctors appointments so I can't force the issue of seeing a nutritionist (I'm in the UK if that helps). I've looked at several websites but they just seem to confuse me.
I'm assuming (hoping!!) that a lot of people here will have done a restrictive diet of sorts before narrowing down their gluten intolerance. I'd be really grateful of any advice / suggestions that you might have.
Please help! I'll also be cooking for my partner who will be eating normally (understandably he hasn't shown any interest in joining me on this for moral support!) So I need to work out meals that I can eat that I can also prepare a little more to make an interesting meal for him. This means that of course I can't just empty the fridge / cupboards of temptation either.
As a note - I'd rather cook for him and ban him completely from the kitchen as strangely I'm often more ill after eating a meal he's cooked and because I want to keep cross contamination low just in case (he'd think nothing of "helping" by stirring a boiling pot with something he's just used for his meal or sharing pans to cook to ingredients at the same time. Unfortunately he doesn't understand how much this affects me.
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Replies
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Ok, you can do this. It's weird, and it's hard, and it's not very fun, but you can do it, and it IS worth it!
Rice is fine, gluten free, and easy to digest. There's lots of different ones out there try different kinds, like jasmine rice, thai purple sticky rice, sushi rice, wild rice, go crazy! Make some brown rice and put a bit of cinnamon and sugar in it. Very easy on your tummy and easy to eat too! Another great thing about rice is how easy it is to make a huge batch and then freeze it in portion sizes for future use.
You can definitely try quinoa and amaranth as well. Those are gluten free and easy to digest, also filling and delicious. Look for pre-washed quinoa so it's not bitter, and use chicken broth to cook it instead of water, you can also use half quinoa and half rice and cook them together. Make alegria for a treat. It's popped amaranth with honey, a small piece of that will curb your sweet tooth.
Little bit of chicken should be fine, you could also see about some ground turkey. But stay away from large portions, and don't eat beef or pork while you're doing this because they're harder to digest. May I suggest you also stay off of corn for this period? Some people find that irritates them.
You should be nervous about spices. You should stay nervous about spices. Spices hide all kinds of stuff! You may have to go on the internet to ascertain whether some are gluten free or not, and if you can't find that it definitely is, then it is not safe. Also do not eat anything spicy hot. I find that it's often best to skip the spice mixes and stick to the actual herbs, like thyme, oregano and so forth. You also need to pay close attention to sauces, marinades, dressings etc.
Truly, no dairy is going to be the suckiest part of this whole thing. You should ask your doctor if you're allowed goat's milk products, that makes a huge difference. Also ask him if you may have gluten free oatmeal, oats do not inherently have gluten in them, but they are often cross contaminated during processing so you have to look for specifically gluten free oats, and pay about 3 times more for them, but hey, it's worth it. You should also find about tomatoes, they have a lot of acid so can upset stomachs sometimes.
I have been eating free of all the following for about 4 years now:
alcohol
caffeine
legumes (peanuts, beans, peas, soy, clover etc)
tree nuts
gluten
seeds (sunflower, sesame etc)
high fructose corn syrup (yeah, I do cheat on this, but I'm pretty good)
I will add you to my friends list, please feel free to send me a message with more questions, or if you want a couple recipes I'm very willing to help. I have been where you are right now, and it sucks!0 -
Thanks ever so much for this. When the doctor told me JUST small portions of chicken, JUST fresh veg JUST non citric fruit for a month it didn't sound like much at all! (I know I need to loose weight but talk about extreme Bikini Diet!!) But I'm going to add in my eggs and rice for a bit more variety / sanity saving and keep a strict log on things so we can watch if anything seems to be reacting even on this diet. I'll definitely have to sit on Google on evening in the kitchen to work out what horrors the cupboards contain!
Its been awful this week having to eat normally just in case they need more blood - I really can't wait to start this, though I know it'll be hard work and three weeks in I'll be drooling at the mere thought of garlic bread not to mention counting in the days I can add another ingredient into my diet to see if its a trigger or not.0 -
For a bit of a 'treat' - try blending a whole banana with an egg and fry it off in coconut oil or evoo. I add cinnamon to mine but you don't have to if you are suspicious of spices. It is surprisingly yum!
Are you allowed oil? Maybe make your own mayo without any nasties - literally just eggs, oil and salt n pepper. Oven roast some sweet potato strips as chips/fries and dip in the mayo.
Kale crisps are a great snack - put a small amount of oil on your hands then smoosh them all over a bowl of kale chopped into bitesize pieces. Season with salt and pepper then oven bake for about 5 minutes - watch carefully as they taste bitter if they burn.
Good luck.0 -
You can do it, it's only for a month. Make sure you track what you eat. Some Crohns patients can be set off just from eating onion or garlic, two very common spices. Look into the SCD diet too, lots of IBS/IBD patients do well on it.
I have an incredibly restricted diet. I can eat potatoes, eggs, rice cakes, peeled apples, watermelon, canned peaches, gf pasta, cheese and canned tuna without many issues. I don't eat gluten/oats/nuts/seeds ever.
I have Crohn's if you have any questions btw.0 -
I'm assuming by squash, you mean something like Ribena or one of the other things one adds to water to make it taste better. You might want to read the labels on those as well, just to make sure there aren't artificial colors or sweeteners that could be upsetting things.
And eggs are allergens for some people, so if you're not seeing any improvements, temporarily eliminating them will let you know if they're also an issue.
Are they counting yoghurt as restricted dairy? I ask because some folks don't, given the fermentation process and plethora of probiotics. If it's ok, it might actually help your belly.
Glad you're getting tested first before changing the diet. I went wheat-free almost 20 years ago, when people thought I was a nutter for thinking that pizza or bagels were responsible for my belly issues. As a result, when they took a biopsy, everything looked "good" because I hadn't been exposing my body to the irritants. It's good that everything's not inflamed anymore, but if I had come back with a positive diagnosis, I could write off GF foods as a medical expense on my taxes.
Feel better!!
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You can do it, it's only for a month. Make sure you track what you eat. Some Crohns patients can be set off just from eating onion or garlic, two very common spices. Look into the SCD diet too, lots of IBS/IBD patients do well on it.
I have an incredibly restricted diet. I can eat potatoes, eggs, rice cakes, peeled apples, watermelon, canned peaches, gf pasta, cheese and canned tuna without many issues. I don't eat gluten/oats/nuts/seeds ever.
I have Crohn's if you have any questions btw.
Thanks ever so! I'm going to be tracking everything here as I want to make sure I'm getting enough calories too and I'm not clever enough to work it all out with a pencil and paper. I'll definitely look at the SCD diet.0 -
I'm assuming by squash, you mean something like Ribena or one of the other things one adds to water to make it taste better. You might want to read the labels on those as well, just to make sure there aren't artificial colors or sweeteners that could be upsetting things.
And eggs are allergens for some people, so if you're not seeing any improvements, temporarily eliminating them will let you know if they're also an issue.
Are they counting yoghurt as restricted dairy? I ask because some folks don't, given the fermentation process and plethora of probiotics. If it's ok, it might actually help your belly.
Glad you're getting tested first before changing the diet. I went wheat-free almost 20 years ago, when people thought I was a nutter for thinking that pizza or bagels were responsible for my belly issues. As a result, when they took a biopsy, everything looked "good" because I hadn't been exposing my body to the irritants. It's good that everything's not inflamed anymore, but if I had come back with a positive diagnosis, I could write off GF foods as a medical expense on my taxes.
Feel better!!
Good point on the squash. I don't know how you all cope reading every label, it makes me dizzy just thinking about it. Yes yoghurt is counted for this first month but I think my probiotic yoghurts helped whether that was all in my mind I don't know, certainly they were a. Easy meal on a bad day so I'm hoping they'll be back in soon!0 -
For a bit of a 'treat' - try blending a whole banana with an egg and fry it off in coconut oil or evoo. I add cinnamon to mine but you don't have to if you are suspicious of spices. It is surprisingly yum!
Are you allowed oil? Maybe make your own mayo without any nasties - literally just eggs, oil and salt n pepper. Oven roast some sweet potato strips as chips/fries and dip in the mayo.
Kale crisps are a great snack - put a small amount of oil on your hands then smoosh them all over a bowl of kale chopped into bitesize pieces. Season with salt and pepper then oven bake for about 5 minutes - watch carefully as they taste bitter if they burn.
Good luck.
Thanks so much for this! I was wondering how I'd curb any sweet cravings but these sound realky good!0 -
Here's some ideas for support & cooking/eating out. Blogs from others with Crohn's.
http://mycrankygut.com/
http://www.ahouseinthehills.com/crohns-disease/2012/1/16/sarahs-experience-with-crohns-disease.html
http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-crohns-blogs
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20455205,00.html
http://crohnsboy.blogspot.ca/
Just some ideas... Also, I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for the Kale chips. Previous poster was correct about them, but the specifics are very important, temp/time cooking, etc. They are yummy, but I spent the better part of the afternoon in front of the oven because every time I took a tray out, I'd gobble it up and have to make another, lol.
Liana0 -
Thanks ever so much for the links canadjineh. I wanted to find some forums or blogs filled with real people rather than doctors opinions or websites whose only aim is to get you to try their product but I was a little wary about over whelming myself with information and going into a full blown meltdown so until now MFP has been my only real source of information.0
