Elimination Diet 2012

Hey there DoingItNow, sorry I have been so absent. Work has been insane and I haven't posted food or anything. Still sticking to the diet. I am going to stay in phase 1 until this Sunday, when I try lemon juice. Yoo hoo! I sent you a message with my email. I haven't heard from you, so I think you haven't seen it. With work being so crazy, it might be easier to stay in touch through email. I am dying of boredom! I am trying to stay motivated with the limited foods. Last night I pigged out on cooked lentils, my home made flax crackers, sauerkraut, avocado and rice. It was a weird combination, but I was stressed and really wanted a vegan cookie. I am so sorry you are not feeling well after the lentils. My sis has a thing about lentils and her tummy. Okay, got to get back to work. See if you got my message. I am rooting for you chickie and I feel your pain and boredom. Hang in there. I keep telling myself, if I cheat, I have to start all over - so that is keeping me good.

First I'd have to find an elimination diet that worked for me. Green smoothies won't work, because raw greens and tropical fruits are both problems for me. A rice based diet would not work because all grains are a problem. I believe it is "The Food Allergy Cookbook" that tells you how to set up your own elimination diet, starting with one food you believe to be safe.

Good luck all!

Pam

pdworkman, did you try one? How did you find out allergies.

No short answer to that one.

- Meat and dairy - I was getting sick every couple of weeks, I would end up throwing up for three days at a time. Figured out that each time I was throwing up the same foods; meat and dairy.

- Gluten - we knew that my son had intolerances that were causing him digestive and possibly behavioural issues, but avoided changing his diet because it was already limited. But it got so that he couldn't eat without laying down doubled up on the couch afterwards. I figured gluten and dairy were the most likely culprits and we cut them out of his diet. Because of his limited impulse control, that meant there couldn't be any gluten or dairy in the house or he would be into it. So my husband and I were also both off of gluten except for the rare occasion when we ate out somewhere else. I quickly noticed that when I ate gluten, I had problems. Turns out that I have celiac disease.

- Other grains - I had very bad dry eyes and mouth, no matter what I did. It was extremely painful. Those are symptoms of Srogen's, another autoimmune disorder. In searching for possible dietary triggers for this autoimmune reaction, I found that others had their symptoms go into remission when removing all grains from the diet. So I went off of rice and corn and sorghum and all the rest, which has largely solved the problem. Autoimmune diseases like celiacs and Srogrens tend to run together and may just be different symptoms of a more complicated disease than we understand at this point.

- heartburn/ulcer triggers - a number of foods (carrots, tomato sauce, chocolate, lemons, etc.), if eaten in too large an amount, will trigger my ulcer. As long as I eat them in small amounts, I am okay. But once my ulcer flares, I have to take acid reducers and completely avoid the triggers, or the problems can drag out for weeks or months. This is probably related to small intestine bacterial overgrowth caused by celiac disease.

- allergic reactions - I have several foods (some nuts, dates, raw pineapple, raw green beans) which, taken in small amounts, cause sores in my mouth. If I ignore this warning sign, they will eventually get worse and trigger an anaphylactic reaction. Unfortunately, this is a similar symptom to my oral allergy syndrome. If I am already reacting to something, then any tropical fruit or strawberries will cause tingling/mouth sores. The multiple allergies are likely caused by celiac disease. Medications are really hard on me too. I can have anaphylaxis or bothersome side effects like all of the skin peeling off my hands.

- fructose intolerance - I have mild fructose intolerance. In people with the more serious fructose intolerance disorders, they cannot eat any fruit or many vegetables. With me, I am okay if I have moderate amounts of fructose, but if I have unusually large amounts, it causes my blood sugar to crash, causing dizziness, nausea, fainting, etc. I found this out when trying an anti-inflammatory diet, which emphasized lots of apples and other high-fructose fruits. I couldn't go anywhere without something to eat, because my blood sugar would take a sudden dive. And often the foods that I ate to try to boost my blood sugar were the high-fructose fruits that were actually causing it in the first place. Oddly, my dad and I both figured out the same week that we were having problems being caused by high-fructose fruits. I dialled way back on the apples and other fruits, and took glucose tablets as necessary, and managed to get my blood sugar stabilized again. No idea if this reaction is related to celiac disease or not. My dad has both this problem and celiac disease as well.

- raw greens - I tried Joel Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" diet, which emphasizes bean and greens. Lots of green salads, green smoothies, etc. While this sort of diet, high in fibre, normally cures any constipation problems. For me, it compounded the problems that I already had from a genetic disorder and celiac disease, making things *very* uncomfortable. Only by backing off of the greens and adding back in potatoes and rice (I was still on rice at this time) was I able to regulate my bowels again. Apparently this is a known effect of raw greens on some people.

At this point, I think I know all of the foods that cause me problems. There are still issues with cross-contamination, and with celiac disease, I will probably continue to get new allergies, but that's it at the moment!

Pam

Oh man, sorry you aren't feeling well DoingItNow! Hope these feelings lift for you. I might have missed it - but you are taking a new medication? Hopefully, the side effects die down a bit for you soon. Otherwise, I would give your doc a call and discuss what is going on.
No worries about not being able to keep in touch through email. Interesting that you work in a prison. I haven't made any new recipes to talk about. I am getting pretty bored, but I am really excited to add in lemon on Sunday. I am really hoping that it goes well, since I have a lot of recipes that I want to make that use lemon. The rice/avocado thing is a saver for me. So, comforting and nourishing.....

Both apples and grapes are high-fructose fruits. You may have trouble tolerating that concentrated a source of fructose. Only have small amounts of them, combine with proteins, and focus instead on lower-fructose fruits like citrus, berries, and stone fruit.

Pam

Hi buddy (DoingItNow), sorry I have been so absent. Work has just been insane! I think there is a way to send messages through myfitnesspal. If you look at the top, there is this place to send messages to a person. That is where I sent you a message a while back. Maybe your work blocks that - but take a look.
Okay, my diary being locked. Let me see if I can figure out how to unlock it. I have to warn you, other than keeping track of my weight; I haven't kept track of food the last couple of weeks since work is so busy. I added lemon juice and wheat-free tamari without any issues over the weekend so I am going to expand to beans this week. I should mention that my breakfast and lunch have not changed much since starting this diet. It is dinner where I eat a bunch of fun stuff that I have had to cut a bunch of stuff.
So glad that you can handle lentils now. Those have always been a big part of my diet and they are so easy and convenient. I hope to have a bit of time tomorrow and I will send you a daily dairy of what I eat. I have to warn you, I used to eat a mostly raw food diet - so some of my meals may not seem too exciting or palatable to you. Good luck miss and congratulations of finally being off the meds!!!

Hey missy! Finally a free moment to let you know what I have been eating. Note that I used to do the raw food diet a long time ago, so I do a lot of raw stuff by day. Also, I added beans with no incident, so now I have jumped around in what to add back and tried tortilla chips today. Don’t seem to bother me. Yeah – since they are a big part of my diet!
Breakfast: A salad of raw red cabbage, raw beets, raw carrots, and cooked quinoa. Apple and a few homemade raw flax crackers.
Lunch: Green smoothie that includes rotating weekly greens plus avocado, celery and now lemon juice. This week it is parsley. When I add back tomatoes, I usually include those too. Some adzuki beans and butternut squash. I have been pretty boring and just putting salt on this. I usually make a bean dish for my lunch, but am running out of ideas when I can’t use tomatoes.
Afternoon snack: pear and blackberries and more flax crackers if hungry.
Dinner: This week it is the kitcheree dish with roasted cauliflower. I had this recipe to roast cauliflower with ground sunflower seeds and some spices. Really tasty.
Evening snack: This has been a mixed bag. I am pretty ravenous in the evening and will have lentils, rice, avocado and some other ED friendly foods until I am stuffed. I am really liking the hot salted rice with avocado and I can eat quite a bit of that. If tortilla chips continue to be okay, I love have chips with cooked lentils. It may sound weird, but I am big on using tortilla chips to dip into everything.
My calories are way over – since I keep eating since I am not satisfied with the limited diet. However, I haven’t gained any weight – which really shows you the benefit of unprocessed foods.
Hope this helps you. I hope you are doing well. I worry about you not getting enough calories….. Can’t wait to hear how things are going with you

Sriraw

Glad things are going well so far. Yes, it can be time-consuming to make all your own food, especially at the beginning. As time goes on, you fall into patterns and it is not so time and energy consuming.

Oh my, I am about to start the Elimination Diet in April and this peas and rice dish sounds delicious! With a few modifications, I can even eat it during the restrictive Phase 1. Thank you for sharing.

I was on an elimination diet given by my naturopath, after 3 months, I had a food panel (blood test) done as I still had hives. The food panel was nice in that it told me exactly what to avoid and what i would need to moderate once my liver was back to normal (it was a pretty expensive test though) but now that we know what my triggers are I've had to eliminate them all for the next year (even the ones that i will only need to moderate in the future) which is about 20 different things (including dairy, casein, gluten, eggs, and soy). Then I'll be able to reintroduce about 14 of those back into my diet in moderation, still not dairy or soy though Right now I'm on month 2 of a liver detox protein powder and I was also on 3 different types of Unda drops to support my liver during this.

It's definitely a great way to figure out what your body can and cannot handle.