Ohter Food Sensitivities

[Guest Happynwgal2]

I have read several postings lately about people who have gone off gluten, but who still are having symptoms as if they were still eating gluten.

After I went off gluten, it took months before I had discovered all the other foods I am also sensitive to. The list is long, but now that I have cut out dairy, peanut butter, yeast, several kinds of veg's like broccoli and beans (produce lot of gas - and I get an achy stomach), mushrooms and most kinds of fruit, candy - I ate gummy bears for treats, but found the sugar made me very ill, so I have now cut back to almost no sugar.

What can I eat? Rice, many veg's, bananas, avocados, meat, poultry, fish, quinoa, and much else. I drink water and almond milk, and eat almond butter. I also take a vitamin and calcium supplement, plus another supplement that my naturopath recommended.

If you continue to have symptoms after you stop eating gluten, some other food is likely giving you similar problems to gluten. This is not uncommon for Celiac patients. Try to make a connection to what you eat and how you feel afterwards. If I get sick a short time after I eat (with sick I mean stomach ache, gas, bloating, and generally just feeling lousy) I can usually figure out when I ate the offending food and what it was. I know pretty much everything that makes me feel sick by now, thank goodness. The last offender I just found a few weeks ago: peanut butter.

Eventually I may go through more testing and find out why I get sick from so many non-gluten foods, but for now, I am content to know that I can just stay away from them.

HOWEVER, some days I would love a "normal" meal - thanksgiving is coming up and it will be an interesting challenge to make food for myself and the family that will please us all - and make nobody sick.

So this Celiac stuff is more involved than I thought to start with, but when I find myself feeling good and healthy several days in a row, and realize that this is possible all the time, it is SO worth the extra effort and the avoidance of a lot of tasty food that I can no longer eat...

I just like to feel good and be healthy!

[jerseyangel]

My experience was much like yours. It took a while to figure it all out, but after 2 years, I'm feeling so much better.

I agree that the gluten-free diet coupled with the other intolerances are limiting--but feeling good most of the time (instead of the other way around) is so worth it.

Thanks

[Sugarmag]

That was me as well. I was gluten free for about a year, and still had some symptoms. But then all of a sudden, I was sick all the time again. I figured out it was soy. Then I was soy free for a bit, and still sick, and having rashes all the time. Then I cut out the casein, and things have been great ever since!

I definitely miss the convenience of eating on the go. Being gluten free wasn't too hard for me, you could go anywhere and get a veggie salad still. But with soy, almost all dressing has soy in it, so it's been really hard for me to eat out. But then I think of how great I feel, and realize it's all worth it!

[Glutenfreefamily]

I know how you feel. I cannot eat poultry, beef, pork, oils, nuts, seeds, dairy, salt, sugar (yeah this one sucks) no berries, no melons, and no grapes, no soy, and of course gluten

Boring as heck especially when I still fix the other foods except gluten for my family and they limit dairy. You do get use to it after awhile but Im still bitter about it kinda the only bonus its hard to have a weight problem when you eat this healthy

[jewi0008]

I know how you feel. I cannot eat poultry, beef, pork, oils, nuts, seeds, dairy, salt, sugar (yeah this one sucks) no berries, no melons, and no grapes, no soy, and of course gluten

Boring as heck especially when I still fix the other foods except gluten for my family and they limit dairy. You do get use to it after awhile but Im still bitter about it kinda the only bonus its hard to have a weight problem when you eat this healthy

How did you discover that you cannot have all of that food? I cannot figure mine out!!! And I keep a very, very precise food log.

[Aligray]

Hello! My name is frustrated...nice to meet u

Just kidding But seriously, I had NO idea until a few days ago that i could develop more intolerances. I have been sick for two months and it is getting worse. I am going to eliminate casein/dairy first. I think i have to limit sugar too! I am so hoping i can still tolerate soy as it is in everything! Oh! and tomatos are bothering me too!

[jewi0008]

Hello! My name is frustrated...nice to meet u

Just kidding But seriously, I had NO idea until a few days ago that i could develop more intolerances. I have been sick for two months and it is getting worse. I am going to eliminate casein/dairy first. I think i have to limit sugar too! I am so hoping i can still tolerate soy as it is in everything! Oh! and tomatos are bothering me too!

What are your symptoms? HOw did you know? How did you know what to cut? Yeah...my name is FRUSTRATED!

[Guest Happynwgal2]

What are your symptoms? HOw did you know? How did you know what to cut? Yeah...my name is FRUSTRATED!

Hi FRUSTRATED!

It is not easy to find what you are also sensitive to, and I cannot tell you exactly how I did it. Over the last year, I have paid close attention to what I am eating; my diet is so simple that it made it easier to figure out what made me sick, or bloated or just feeling unwell. For example, after eating my home made pancakes made from "safe" grains, I felt like I had a rock in my stomach, and just did not feel good. So I now only use quinoa, which I love instead of rice (I CAN eat rice, but quinoa had double the protein), and quinoa flakes for a tasty hot breakfast cereal.

Every time I ate cheese, I got sick: boating, gas, painful cramping. Every time I drank milk (which I love), I felt unwell.

My diet has been very basic for the last year; I seldom eat already made meals or foods, even those that say "gluten free". Many of them still have ingredients that I wasn't sure of, so by knowing what I could eat, I slowly weeded out what I couldn't eat. The last one was peanut butter just a few weeks ago.

My naturopath has also been helpful. If you can pay for your own visits to a naturopath, or if you are lucky enough to have insurance that covers naturopath visits, go talk with one in your area. It is amazing how differently they approach Celiac than conventional doctors do.

Perhaps I have an advantage to many on here: I have been sick for over 50 years, since I was a little girl, and was desperate to find what foods made me so sick. Eating to me is still only a necessity; seldom do I eat to enjoy myself because eating has never been associated with pleasure to me. Sure, a few moments of pleasure because I loved the taste, but then, inevitably, the pain followed. I still hate cooking, but must do more because I need variety.

I must admit that eating is slowly becoming more pleasurable; I can now eat without getting sick. In fact, during the past few weeks I have been sick only a couple of times, and that was because I ate something I shouldn't have. Born and raised in Norway, I love what is called GJEITOST, or goat cheese - it's not the real goat cheese, but a mix between goat milk and cows milk; I love the stuff, and it is my favorite "treat". But I get so sick from it, and a week or so ago, I said: sick or not, I am going to eat it, and paid dearly for it...

So the short answer to how do you find out: patience, and eating very simple foods so that you can easier figure out what you react to. It sounds boring and difficult, but the end result will be that you will know for sure what you can and cannot eat.

And once you know what you CAN eat, you can start enjoying cooking - and eating - again, if you enjoy cooking - and eating!!!

[Aligray]

Happy! That is wonderful advice! I completely agree!

Jewi- Well, for 7 weeks i have beem sick and everyday i say the same things...what on earth did i get ahold of.....why am i still sick....yada yada....

But then a few days ago i get on here and start reading that i can develop more intolerances. Well, that certainly makes sense but boy does it make me frustrated. So for 3 days i have read and racked my brain. And so far i have come up with dairy makes me feel terrible. and tomatos are giving me heartburn. And i also read about oxylates and that may be it too. So im going to cut them out. I ate ice cream yesterday as a test and i was sooo sick.

Here are my symptoms:

bloating

diarrhea

constipation too

stomach cramps

itching

beautiful stomach noises

muscle pain again

The GI discomfort is the biggest problem right no1.

Oh! And for a couple months now I have been saying that can cokes and fountain cokes have been bothering me but yet they are supposed to be gluten free. I was reading on a casein free website last nite that caramal color has a MILK derivative in it!!!! Oh my goodness! So my devastated heart is still trying to deal w that! But i needed to kick them anyway! Besides being terrible for me, they make me sick!

Good luck!

-Ali

[Guest Happynwgal2]

Happy! That is wonderful advice! I completely agree!

Jewi- Well, for 7 weeks i have beem sick and everyday i say the same things...what on earth did i get ahold of.....why am i still sick....yada yada....

But then a few days ago i get on here and start reading that i can develop more intolerances. Well, that certainly makes sense but boy does it make me frustrated. So for 3 days i have read and racked my brain. And so far i have come up with dairy makes me feel terrible. and tomatos are giving me heartburn. And i also read about oxylates and that may be it too. So im going to cut them out. I ate ice cream yesterday as a test and i was sooo sick.

Here are my symptoms:

bloating

diarrhea

constipation too

stomach cramps

itching

beautiful stomach noises

muscle pain again

The GI discomfort is the biggest problem right no1.

Oh! And for a couple months now I have been saying that can cokes and fountain cokes have been bothering me but yet they are supposed to be gluten free. I was reading on a casein free website last nite that caramal color has a MILK derivative in it!!!! Oh my goodness! So my devastated heart is still trying to deal w that! But i needed to kick them anyway! Besides being terrible for me, they make me sick!

Good luck!

-Ali

Hi Ali,

I am glad you are finding out what is making you so sick. And I am glad you told me that caramel flavor/color has some milk stuff in it. I did not know that, but perhaps it makes sense somehow...

Keep it up - just don't give up until you feel better. I am still working on it, but have a lot more good days than bad days... Now my bad days are mostly when I KNOW I am eating something (NOT gluten, though!) that will make me sick... Dumb to do, but I am only human.... And there are just some goodies that I miss... However, my side stepping happens less and less frequently as I learn about and find alternatives, especially to satisfy my sweet tooth...

I have to go to work, so more later!

[jewi0008]

Hi Ali,

I am glad you are finding out what is making you so sick. And I am glad you told me that caramel flavor/color has some milk stuff in it. I did not know that, but perhaps it makes sense somehow...

Keep it up - just don't give up until you feel better. I am still working on it, but have a lot more good days than bad days... Now my bad days are mostly when I KNOW I am eating something (NOT gluten, though!) that will make me sick... Dumb to do, but I am only human.... And there are just some goodies that I miss... However, my side stepping happens less and less frequently as I learn about and find alternatives, especially to satisfy my sweet tooth...

I have to go to work, so more later!

Thank you all for your advice. What will happen to me is either C or D. On top of it I usually suffer from EXTREME fatigue. But typically it only lasts a day. Saturdays are my days when I don't do strict dieting....and for some reason I always "mess up gluten and/or else-wise" on those days. I hate it, but because I eat so many different things on Saturdays (ie. soy, sugar, ect.) I can never pin what or why it is that on the following Wednesday or Thursday I'm miserable.

I get dry and irritated mouth...sides of my tongue and roof of my mouth. It only goes aways sometimes, but because I know I have delayed reactions I, for the life of me, cannot pin it on any food or day of the week it came from.

It's not fun to live this way, that's for sure.

And by the way...I gave up coke and dark-colored soda a long time ago because I reacted immediately to it....I would get like a lump in my throat and could barely swallow. I really try to stay away from anything caramel. I wonder what else relates to the coke and/or caramel that I really need to avoid?!

[Guest Happynwgal2]

I get dry and irritated mouth...sides of my tongue and roof of my mouth. It only goes aways sometimes, but because I know I have delayed reactions I, for the life of me, cannot pin it on any food or day of the week it came from.

Wow, that sounds pretty bad - and makes it difficult to figure out what it is you shouldn't be eating. I am afraid you've got me stumped on how to fix that one... Usually for me, the reaction comes within minutes or two-three hours, so it is not that difficult to figure out what the offending food is.

Perhaps there are some answers to your symptoms somewhere here on this web site? I never have the kinds of symptoms you describe in your mouth.

Keep searching, though, and you will eventually figure it out.

(Just came home from work, and I just can't think to write anything else to encourage you.... )

[codetalker]

How did you discover that you cannot have all of that food? I cannot figure mine out!!! And I keep a very, very precise food log.

Having a food log will help a lot.

If it isn't clear which foods are causing a problem, the trick is to gradually eliminate one item at a time from your diet. This is harder if your diet contains lots of processed food. For example, soy and/or corn are in just about everything. Nonetheless, the idea would be to keep simplifying your diet until the problems stop. Then, gradually add one item back at a time and see which one was the last item added when the problem happened again.

When people post about additional intolerances, the most frequently mentioned items are soy, dairy, corn, grains, nuts, eggs. These would be a good place to start.

It has taken two years to determine my current list of additional intolerances. It is a very slow and tedious process.

[jewi0008]

Having a food log will help a lot.

If it isn't clear which foods are causing a problem, the trick is to gradually eliminate one item at a time from your diet. This is harder if your diet contains lots of processed food. For example, soy and/or corn are in just about everything. Nonetheless, the idea would be to keep simplifying your diet until the problems stop. Then, gradually add one item back at a time and see which one was the last item added when the problem happened again.

When people post about additional intolerances, the most frequently mentioned items are soy, dairy, corn, grains, nuts, eggs. These would be a good place to start.

It has taken two years to determine my current list of additional intolerances. It is a very slow and tedious process.

I've decided NO SOY this week...starting today. I had to cut the tofu and the almond milk (there is soy lecithin in the almond milk) Anyways, this week here will be my diet:

1. Rice milk

2. coffee

3. Xlean turkey plain

4. plain grilled chix

5. apples

6. lettuce

7. quinoa

8. tea

THE END. How does that sound? We'll see what happens!

[emcmaster]

I can't have corn (especially xanthan gum), broccoli, cane sugar (but I cheat sometimes), many legumes (I cheat on those too), sunflower seeds/sunflower butter, and eggplant. I "reacted" to more on the Lame Advertisement test but those seem to be the only ones that bother me enough to cut them out.

[codetalker]

I've decided NO SOY this week...starting today. I had to cut the tofu and the almond milk (there is soy lecithin in the almond milk)

Avoiding soy is tough. When I was trying to eliminate it, I ran into one source that surprised me. Apparently, mono- and diglycerides can be soy-based. I had a reaction after eating some ice cream. I went to the manfacturer's web site to check whether ingredients had changed. The ingredient list was the same as what was on the carton and there was no apparent soy. Some of the ingredients were clickable. When I clicked mono- and diglycerides, a little window popped up that said:

"mono and diglycerides:

These are naturally-occurring emulsifiers obtained from the fat of soybeans and vegetable oils. "

Best of luck this week. I hope you get a handle on the source of the problem.