Are You Beyond Your Past Intolerances? Needed Answers For How To.

[1desperateladysaved]

I am hearing so many that are struggling with intolerances and having extreme difficulty. They seem to need to avoid everything in their diet.

I am here to ask to hear from someone who has been there done that. We need to know how you did it.

Sometimes I am feeling so well lately, I am wondering if I have done it, but I want someone gluten free longer than 7 months.

I hope all will get there one day: Beyond intolerances.

If you are still in the process, you might describle how you are trying to overcome it.

Diana

[Chaff]

Diana, once again, we are totally on the same wavelength. Just sayin'.

[mushroom]

Four that I am beyond: can eat all dairy now; can eat things with corn starch in them now; can eat things with potato starch now; can eat things with soy lecithin now. Small but significant steps in what can be added back into the diet. Pamela's baking mix, anyone? Udi's bread? Chocolate?

[GottaSki]

Took me a very long time to find all mine, but I can do small amounts of cocoa and I had a slip up a week ago and ate dairy - no reaction! I'm staying the course on my current list of foods since I've only been vertical again for a little over a month.

Mid-May I plan to trial many of my problem foods with the exceptions being gluten and histamine containing and histamine inducing foods.

Hang in there Diana - it really does get better and going without many foods doesn't bother me now that I'm feeling better - you will get here too

Edited to add...just read your tag -- sorry guess I should not have responded as I have not overcome many intolerances -- I just have every reason to believe I will.

[bartfull]

Got corn starch back. Seem to have gotten nightshades back. Although I haven't tested ASPERIN yet, I seem to do OK with the salicylates in most fruits and veggies now. I can eat chocolate again too. There are a bunch of things I haven't tested yet.

How did I do it? By sticking to nothing but whole foods for a year. Then I added back one thing at a time, and only trying a new food once a month. And I really think that the fact that I went totally organic for the first six or eight months really helped.

[JNBunnie1]

I have been gluten free for 8 years, I developed a (likely stress-related) intolerance

of all things tomato a couple years ago. Gave myself a year off, tried it again, was good.

Sometimes, you just have no idea.....

[Gemini]

I have been gluten-free almost 8 years and the only other intolerance I have is to dairy. I haven't gotten that back so it's doubtful I will at this point.

I can eat small amounts like milk in my tea but can't eat ice cream, drink a glass of milk or eat anything with a big dairy hit. However, I am not too bothered by this because dairy isn't always the best thing to go heavy on. If you have asthma, which I don't, or have allergies where you can develop congestion from time to time, dairy is something to be avoided as it's very mucous producing. I feel clearer in my lungs and head when I don't eat dairy. Besides, there are alternatives like soy milk and almond milk, which I like so it's not a problem for me.

Other than that, I have healed to the point where I am doing well and rarely get sick from GI issues anymore.

[Takala]

Had to go grain- free in the beginning, did everything with nuts I ground myself, and at first dairy free, then a tiny bit of hard cheese, but after a nearly week - long storm damage power outage around 2008(?), realized that it would be easier in an emergency if I could tolerate some sort of packaged foods, so I gradually added in things like rice cakes and peanut butter. Finding an agreeable p-b was entertaining ("here, honey, could you finish this jar while I open a new one ") but I got there. Was really amazing the first time I ate gluten-free pizza out and didn't suffer, took a while. Had to go back to avoiding cc in many gluten free grains with commercially prepared products because I can't do soy flour, flax or oats, but, fortunately I have the "baking gene" , got to taste what is possible, and I just make my own stuff, using the gluten-free Chebe tapioca as a base product, because at least that's in the hf stores around here.

I don't think of this as being "restrictive," because it certainly beats being crippled by neurological problems, so much as it is just being time consuming. I have family members who have actual food allergies and who must avoid other categories, which I can eat, so I think I'm fortunate, and I think that is actually a bigger problem, a sort of mental trick. They probably think the same thing. To each their own...

[GottaSki]

How could I forget.....I got almonds back - was nut free for over a year - still can't do cashews - haven't tried others yet. Almonds were a fantastic addition - I use whole raw almonds to make milk, flour, butters and the best thing is my cocoa "mousse" - yum!

[cahill]

I have been gluten free for over 3 years , soy free over 2 years. I has taken me a very long time to identify all my intolerances.

I fought very very hard to keep corn ( that did not work out so well I am grain free ( with the exception of rice , which I limit ) Xanthum gum is totally of limits . Legumes and nuts I rotate in/out of my diet .Potatoes are not happening for me but now I can rotate tomatoes and peppers in /out of my diet.I have a lot of foods that I still rotate in/out of my diet .

The key to getting "past" your intolerances? I would think it would be identifying them. Then eliminating them to allow your body to heal, then reintroducing them ( one at a time) to judge your reaction to see if it is now something your body can tolerate.

Not to be a downer but, I do not expect to " get beyond" most of my intolerances. I was undiagnosed for an extremely long time. There was a lot of damage . I have A LOT of intolerances. Most of them are here to stay.I live with that every day and I am OK with that because for the first time ( probably ever in my life ) I am healthy And I am good with that

I did get dairy and eggs back ( two biggies to me )

[designerstubble]

Just found this thread, been looking for some inspiration! It's a great topic (for me!), as I am SO struggling with just eating fruit & veg. It's so good to hear that some of you are actually getting a few foods back. I'd be happy with dairy, eggs, and corn. Life would be soooo much simpler. And happier.

[pricklypear1971]

I got back high iodine foods (egg yolks, potato, asparagus, dairy, sea fish, etc) after my DH cleared. Weaned back on them slowly. Took about 4-5 months total.

Can have more sugar now that adrenals have improved: that includes fruit and processed sugar. Drastically reduced it for months.

Have discovered sugar delivered with starch/grain is not good. I have no "stop" button. Sugar with coconut/nut flour hits the stop button. Problem solved.

My gut is much better, energy better, no rash (unless I get a virus then it seems to flare just a tad, but nothing that stops me). I attribute the bulk of "feeling better/energy" to time, healing, and finally being able to work out. That said, working out has been an adventure with a few setbacks. But overall, I move forward.

I've been gluten-free almost2 years.

[1desperateladysaved]

I have a concern that  eliminating food could be conterproductive..  Someone might get malnourished as a result.  That is why I was wondering if anyone recovered when they had very few things left in their diet.  The whole thread has been interesting for me, though.  I was intolerant to some degree to most things I was eating.  Rather then just eat the ones Ihat I had left, I began a rotational diet.  I was puzzling which way to go, to take out every food that I had antibodies for, or the rotational diet.  The rotational diet has done well.  I didn't have  an IgE reaction to anything, so that is why I was allowed to eat all of the foods.  If a person has an allergic reaction, they would not have it in their rotation.

 

Any thoughts in these directions I would appreciate.

[dilettantesteph]

My experience seems different from others here.  It has been close to 6 years now.

 

I hadn't been eating dairy for years when I was diagnosed, but I was able to add it back after about a year.  Then I started reacting to it again.  I found some grass fed milk locally and I can drink that, but when winter comes, the cows get wheat and I can't drink it anymore.  The same thing happened with eggs.  I was told that I must be intolerant of nightshades because I reacted to tomatoes.  Then I found someone at the market whose tomatoes I could eat.  Unfortunately she wasn't there the next year, but I had planted some of my own by then.  Same thing happened with rutabega, squash, potato, etc.  I would get quite sick sometimes from other sources, but when I grew my own I was good. 

 

As far a your questsion goes, I did seem to be able to heal with a limited diet.  I paid careful attention to getting all necessary nutrients and that can be difficult with a limited diet.  My diet is still pretty limited in the winter.  It would sure be a lot easier if I could find more sources of food that I could trust. 

 

It is really nice feeling this healthy.

[cahill]

I found going organic resolved a lot of my issues . Meaning that it was the pesticides  ,waxes  ,additives and fertilizers  I was reacting to rater then the food its self .

Buying local organic fresh foods has made alot of foods tolerable.  Winter is tough but we deal

 

** just to add ** certain foods are off my consumable list permanently,,, meaning even if  organic  they are  NOT something my body tolerates .   Soy,Gluten,Sugar/Artificial sweeteners  and grains are OUT of my diet .

[cahill]

I have a concern that  eliminating food could be conterproductive..  Someone might get malnourished as a result.  That is why I was wondering if anyone recovered when they had very few things left in their diet.  The whole thread has been interesting for me, though.  I was intolerant to some degree to most things I was eating.  Rather then just eat the ones Ihat I had left, I began a rotational diet.  I was puzzling which way to go, to take out every food that I had antibodies for, or the rotational diet.  The rotational diet has done well.  I didn't have  an IgE reaction to anything, so that is why I was allowed to eat all of the foods.  If a person has an allergic reaction, they would not have it in their rotation.

 

Any thoughts in these directions I would appreciate.

 

 

The malnourishment I suffer before my elimination diet was killing me. So eating foods that my body could  actually absorb ,, even though very limited in my selection ,, saved my life .

Removing those foods I was intolerant  of allowed my body to utilizes the foods it could actually absorb and allowed my body   to heal so that I could eventually add some foods back into my diet