Help with low carb for health reasons

Kyla, a very reliable Low Carb site - full of good stuff - by a registered dietitian - http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com
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Whichever path you choose, make sure you document it well. You will be experimenting, and every detail matters in an experiment. When talking low carb, it takes many weeks for changes to become apparent, so the farther from "normal" you go (I.e. the less carbs you consume), the more time needed to adjust.

My opinion on this topic with regard to which diet works best is moot because I dont know
about the disorder. Good luck in your experiments.

Just fyi, walgreens and others do lipid panel tests for about $50-60. Maybe that could be a gauge.

Couple things...

Did the GI doc ever try to figure out WHY you had GERD? There could be a reason behind it that it would help you to know, you know? I've heard that some folks with low level food allergies had GERD presentations, even when they had no hives or rashes.

Did the GI doctor ever test you for celiac disease? Parasites? Lactose intolerance? Fructose malabsorption? (last two need a breath test - and sorry for the bombardment of questions. Both myself and my daughter have had to see a number of GI doctors, enough to realize that they aren't always as thorough as they should be. :-/ )

Oh, and have you ever found out the exact results of your thyroid test and compared them online to some of the current research? There is currently a big debate among endocrinologists about what is actually normal for thyroid testing, and many believe that the current 'normal' levels are too high, considering that something like 95% of the population fall into a much lower range. And there are many who say that their thyroid levels, at what some doctors view as not enough to be a problem, WERE actually a problem.

Don't know that this is your situation, but I've had a number of friends with thyroid issues who ran into this, you know?

In terms of diet, the low carb thing is really tricky. Honestly, there really doesn't seem to be a 'one way fits all,' not even in terms of basic carbs, not when you start looking at the research done (and not done). If it were me, I might consider the GAPS diet. Personally, I think a lot of the THEORY behind the diet is poor. However, it's a diet that looks to dropping you down to an extremely limited diet, and to try and build it up while at the same time adding in probiotics, and avoiding a number of foods that are more likely to cause allergic reactions or intolerances (not that they phrase it this way). It's also very specific, so easy to follow (well, not easy, but simple).

So I know a lot of people who have done this diet and while they didn't stay on it, it helped them to figure out if any foods were actually part of the problem, and for many of them, it did improve their gut health (the probiotics alone could be responsible for that, though).

the GAPS diet is mostly food made by yourself, from regular ingredients, so it's not more expensive, just some more time needed to cook, so from a financial standpoint, it's pretty good,too.