Gi Discomfort V Intolerance

[covsooze]

Apart from gluten, the only 2 foods that I've got real problems with (ie to the extent that I feel it necessary to avoid them) are chocolate and tomatoes. Chocolate makes me really poorly and tomatoes give me mouth ulcers. However, there are lots of other foods that cause me GI discomfort. I don't know if that means I'm intolerant to them or indeed if that really matters. For others in that position, have you excluded those foods that 'just' give you GI discomfort? Is it worth doing? Do you just exclude the worst offenders and rotate the rest or what?

Thanks for your comments!

Susie x

[Nooner]

I get reactions to poultry, brassicaceae family veggies (broccoli, cabbage, mustard so far), soy, and nightshades. I also react to vinegars, including apple cider vinegar, possibly because of the acid. I ate an orange this week that gave me some distress, so I'm going to avoid all citrus for a while.

Most of my "intolerances" have a strong enough reaction (not as bad as gluten but darn uncomfortable) that I just don't think it's worth the pain to try and eat them. In the case of soy and nightshades, there was no reaction during my elimination diet, then a few weeks later I started to notice some effect, then shortly after I identified the food I started to really feel it. I'm going to try rotating citrus (lemon juice) in the hopes I don't develop a full blown reaction to it.

I am worried about other foods. I eat a lot of corn, beef and rice now (not much else left!) and I'm worried that I'll start reacting to them, too. I really do want to start a rotation schedule on my safe foods, but haven't yet. I guess I'm fighting to keep the little bit of food spontenaity I have left.

You can't have chocolate, how awful! Do you react to the bean itself? I thought chocolate was a problem for me, too, until I realized it was the soy lecithin in it. So I make brownies and fudge now, but avoid any premade chocolate candy.

Thanks for starting this thread, I've been curious about this, too. I also wonder if by avoiding things that bother me, like nightshades, if eventually I'll be able to tolerate them a little. Maybe we eventually heal enough to regain some things. Hopefully!

[celiacgirls]

I've given up gluten and casein. I did those because of Enterolab testing. I have noticed I am possibly reacting to soy with just stomach problems right after eating it. I'm thinking I will give it up and see if it is really a reaction to soy. I think it will be worth it because I'm already making most things from scratch and am aware of soy because one of my daughters is soy intolerant. So it doesn't seem like it will be a big deal. If it were something I would miss more, I'm not sure what I would do.

[marciab]

When I first started the elimination diet, I could only eat a few things. So, I had to tolerate a little distress in order to get foods back into my diet.

The cramps, rash and the "D" I get from soy, corn, eggs or dairy are just too much to handle though.

It probably took me 10 tries to get tomatoes, onions and garlic back in. It's been a while, but I believe these gave me reflux. Now I can eat these raw.

At present I am introducing coconut oil. It gave me bad reflux the first time, less reflux the second and I have not tried it again. But, I will ...

I am still trying to figure out if I can handle minute amounts of corn, soy, dairy and eggs. Mainly because they are in the goodies I want to eat

Marcia

[Guest cassidy]

Chocolate and nightshades (including tomatoes) are very bad for me as well. I also have a hard time with pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, citrus and bananas. I thought those things were supposed to be healthy! I can usually tolerate a little if I only have a bite or two of something every once in a while. I have really found that once I have healed I can have a bite, but I will pay big time if I have a whole serving.

I do cheat sometimes. I NEVER cheat on gluten and sometimes fruit just sounds good.

[Kaycee]

You can't have chocolate, how awful! Do you react to the bean itself?

Nooner, you have fair taken my breath away, I am way down here on the other side of the world trying to sort out a couple of things with my diet, and you mention chocolate and bean in the same sentence, and I think, bean = legume, and I go, oh no, don't tell me the cacao bean is a legume.

Then I do another take when I remember coffee comes from a bean as well! I am now in pretty bad shape here, stressing a little as I avoid most legumes as they give me grief, especially peanuts and soy and I am sure others as in chickpeas too, but what if chocolate comes from a legume? How depressing, especially since I have been eating a bit lately and not feeling too great, but blaming it on something else for that instead. I am now more confused than ever, but at the same time thanks for the mention about chocolate and beans, just the right timing to get me thinking.

Maybe they are legumes and everybody else knew but me, or maybe they are not legumes and I am going up the wrong tree?

Cathy

[Nooner]

Nooner, you have fair taken my breath away, I am way down here on the other side of the world trying to sort out a couple of things with my diet, and you mention chocolate and bean in the same sentence, and I think, bean = legume, and I go, oh no, don't tell me the cacao bean is a legume.

Then I do another take when I remember coffee comes from a bean as well!

Hi Cathy,

I just checked Wikipedia, and according to them, neither cocoa beans or coffee beans are actual beans. So no, they aren't legumes, but in my experience, that doesn't mean you can't react to them! By the way, vanilla beans are also NOT legumes, in case you were wondering.

I just mentioned it to Susie because I had suspected chocolate itself, but found out it was something in the chocolate. If I use cocoa powder to make my own chocolate goodies, I'm fine. If I eat a single M&M, I'm sick. I finally figured out it was the soy lecithin that was getting me. And as you already know, soy is a legume...

This whole thing of intolerances is pretty frustrating, but fascinating to me. I'm amazed that my body knows that broccoli and mustard are related and acts accordingly. I haven't even tried tomatoes since I had a bad reaction to peppers and potatoes. I'm only 4 months into this, though, and I'm hoping with time, things will reverse.

Marcia, you're giving me hope that things will turn around. How long did it take you to be able to work some things back into your diet? Weeks? Months? Years?

[covsooze]

Kaycee, I've replied to your question on your chocolate thread, although I see Nooner has provided a good answer her too

You guys who've done/ are doing an elimination diet. Did you start off eating nothing at all or just a couple of foods? I'm not sure how restrictive I am going to need to be to start off with - pretty restrictive I reckon, but I also don't want to fail cos of being too hungry! I'm seeing the dietician tomorrow so will speak to her about it and start after Christmas

[Nooner]

I did some research on elimination diets to find out what to eat. A lot of websites had different "safe" foods, so I compiled foods that appeared on multiple sites. I also tried to keep it as simple as possible. Here's what I ate for the first few days: green tea, brown rice, zucchini, pineapple, carrots, and sweet potatoes. I kept a food journal, and looking back, I see that I was crabby, and a little headachy, and hungry all the time, but I felt significantly better after 4 days. I started to reintroduce foods then, one per day, which I now think was too fast, but I was desperate for some variety.

A few times I had to go back to rice/zucchini/sweet potatoes because I tried to do too much at once, but the first week of the elimination diet was the worst, and after I had a few more foods to eat it wasn't bad. And I didn't know about my gluten intolerance yet, so I had to spend a lot of time suffering through those foods, but you won't have to do those foods.

[marciab]

My doc put me on the elimination diet back in July 2005 because my stomach was killing me ... reflux, "D", "C", gas pains, stomach cramps ... and I was down to 105 pounds ...

She told me to eliminate wheat, dairy, soy, corn and eggs. These are the common sensitivities and it is becuase they are found in so much of our foods today.

Also I was told not to eat any fruit or veggie with a skin. Peas, grapes, etc. And the only meats I could have were plain fish and chicken. And avoid citrus.

She also told me to eliminate anything that I knew hurt. For me that was onions, tomatoes, garlic, etc.

And to add papaya, mango and pineapple because they contain natural digestive enzymes and she knew I needed something to eat.

I ate tons of home cooked beans over millet, quinoa and buckwheat. I used crystallized ginger for flavor and becuase is helps digestion.

Baked potatoes are good because they hold the most nutrients this way. I use EVOO and salt for flavor.

Plain steamed veggies are easy for the most part, but each person has to see what they can handle.

I slowly added in raw nuts. Cashews were the easiest for me to digest. I can digest organic peanut butter and almond or cashew butter, but not roasted nuts ...

It took several months for my stomach to calm down, but I was a mess. Be sure to go back to your safe foods when something upsets your stomach. It gives it time to heal.

You need a good probiotic too. I used kefir, but it is dairy and I have to get off of it because it is causing "D" everytime. I don't know of a probiotic I can have yet though ...

Hope this helps ... marcia

[covsooze]

Thanks so much marcia - that does help a lot. I saw my dietician yesterday, who I must say, for an NHS dietician is very open minded and very helpful She's helping me put together an elimination diet to start after Christmas. It sounds pretty much like yours. She got me making a list of foods I know I'm OK with, foods that I know I'm not and foods that I've got question marks over. The list I'm OK with is depressingly small, but should be OK for a few weeks. I will post in my blog how I get on!

Susie x