Elimination Diet

[Corkdarrr]

Two months gluten-free. First week was AMAZING.

since then, I'm sliding back down that slippery, slippery slope of feeling like crap.

I don't know if I've gotten sloppy with my diet, or if my body is discovering its other intolerances. Either way, I have a really hard time focusing all my energy (eating gluten-free) on something that's still making me feel like crap. (Granted, not NEARLY as crappy as before.)

So I've heard here and there about the elimination diet. What do you think? Have I just lost my patience all too soon? Should I try it? What do I need to know before starting it? Where's the best place to get info on it (books, websites, etc...)?

Any feedback and info is much appreciated!

- Courtney

[marciab]

It actually an easy concept. Especially since you already are familiar with withdrawals and food deprivation.

Just get the common food allergy / sensitivities (soy, dairy, eggs, corn - you already took out wheat) and anything else that you know tears up your digestive tract out of your diet. For me that meant meat, tomatoes, chocolate, coffee, onions, garlic .... yep, I was a mess.

You probably already have a good idea of what your "safe foods" are. These are the ones you can eat everytime without any side effects. For me it was a plain baked potato, unsweetened apple sauce, white rice, peas, asparagus, etc.

Your goal is to keep your digestive system calm / normal. You may need some digestive enzymes or probiotics to help with this. My doc had me eating papaya, mango and pineapple since they are full of digestive enzymes and my food choices were so limited. And I use oils, like EVOO to keep me regular. Regular bm's will help your whole digestive tract since nothing is backing up in there.

Once you have attained calm / normal digestion you can start adding in new foods. But, you have to add new foods a little at a time.

Even if you react to certain foods at first you can try them again later. It took me several attempts to get tomatoes back into my diet. But, now they are fine. Chocolate, too Dairy, corn, and eggs still get me.

You will need to keep a food diary so you can see what you reacted to. And track your meds too since we know those can really mess up your stomach too.

Hope this help you gets you started... Marcia

[Corkdarrr]

It actually an easy concept. Especially since you already are familiar with withdrawals and food deprivation.

Just get the common food allergy / sensitivities (soy, dairy, eggs, corn - you already took out wheat) and anything else that you know tears up your digestive tract out of your diet. For me that meant meat, tomatoes, chocolate, coffee, onions, garlic .... yep, I was a mess.

You probably already have a good idea of what your "safe foods" are. These are the ones you can eat everytime without any side effects. For me it was a plain baked potato, unsweetened apple sauce, white rice, peas, asparagus, etc.

Your goal is to keep your digestive system calm / normal. You may need some digestive enzymes or probiotics to help with this. My doc had me eating papaya, mango and pineapple since they are full of digestive enzymes and my food choices were so limited. And I use oils, like EVOO to keep me regular. Regular bm's will help your whole digestive tract since nothing is backing up in there.

Once you have attained calm / normal digestion you can start adding in new foods. But, you have to add new foods a little at a time.

Even if you react to certain foods at first you can try them again later. It took me several attempts to get tomatoes back into my diet. But, now they are fine. Chocolate, too Dairy, corn, and eggs still get me.

You will need to keep a food diary so you can see what you reacted to. And track your meds too since we know those can really mess up your stomach too.

Hope this help you gets you started... Marcia

Thanks Marcia

I already keep a food journal - have been on and off for years, if only so I can see just HOW much I"m eating! As for my safe foods...it all seems to have gotten jumbled up into one gigantic ball of abdominal pain. I suppose that just means some extra experimentation. After cutting everything out did you find that you had like a detox period where you just felt absolutely awful for a few days? How long did your whole elimination diet take? Do you know of any books or anything on the subject? How many questions in a row could I possibly ask you?

[marciab]

Most people can eat the safe foods I listed so that would at least give you a place to start.

My whole digestive system was a mess from top to bottom too. I had food coming up the wrong way and food coming out - well you really don't want to know

I have felt awful most of the time for about 16 years now, so I would not have noticed a detox. I hear it is common though. I did notice when I started feeling better though. It took about 4 months before I was feeling good about eating again. By then I had a few more food choices too.

Everytime I introduce a new food, I run the risk that it will make me feel crappy again. Yesterday, I ate some tortilla chips that nailed me. Only for a few hours though

I've been at this for over a year now and I am still adding foods in slowly. I added coconut, leeks, and garlic back successfully for the first time last week. I have to go slowly with these though since they have been a problem before. I have black beans in the frig to try, but I am very leary about these. These really tore me up last time.

My diet is pretty much all fruits and veggies and "safe" meats. I do better if I stay away from processed grains, but I am fine with whole buckwheat, millet, quinao, etc.

I don't know of any books on the elimination diet, but I do all of my research on the internet. I am severely allergic to dust mites. Everyone has to figure out for themselves which foods they can eat.

Hope this helps ... Marcia

[emcmaster]

I am still sort of on an elimination diet, even though I've added back some grains in flour forms. (It appears, at least at this moment, that I am tolerating rice, tapioca, corn and potato in flour form but not in grain form. )

I ate only fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. If you know for sure that rice isn't a problem, then eat that. I, however, wanted to make 100% sure that rice wasn't a cause for my problems.

The rule of thumb I used when adding back foods was that I added only one "questionable" food per week. If I didn't react to it immediately, I continued to eat it along with my staple diet and the next week I added back another food. If I did react to it, I stopped eating it and returned to my staples until my symptoms went away.

I have lots of recipes that involve only fruits, veggies and proteins, so if you're looking for stuff to eat, PM me.