Food Diaries - A Must For Those Starting Out

[kayo]

I've been seeing lots of posts where people are just starting out on the gluten-free diet and having trouble figuring out what might be causing them grief. Many have been gluten-free just a month or so and still having issues. This is normal and things will get better. It can take quite a few months for us to feel better. So many of us have gone undiagnosed for years, tens of years, so it makes sense that it will take longer than a few months to feel better.

One thing I want to suggest is logging a food diary and symptom notebook. This is an invaluable tool at helping us sort out which foods might be culprits. It can help us figure out cross contamination issues and other food intolerances.

I was just diagnosed celiac but have been gluten-free for 8 months and I still have the occasional issues. I still consider myself a newbie with this diet. It's a whole new lifestyle. About 5 months into the gluten-free diet it was discovered I have a soy intolerance. I was able to go back and look in my diary and see a pattern that I hadn't noticed before. I jot everything in there from dry eyes to GI issues to doc appointments and lab results. Then when I go to the doc I bring it along with me. No more having to remember it all in my head!

If I'm having issues now I go right back to keeping a food diary for a few days. I eat simply and then add things back in. For example I think I may have issues with chocolate. So I haven't had any for a few weeks and when I do I will keep the diary and track any changes in how my body reacts. If I see a pattern then I know I have an issue and will eliminate it from my diet.

Good luck!

[kare101]

I've been seeing lots of posts where people are just starting out on the gluten-free diet and having trouble figuring out what might be causing them grief. Many have been gluten-free just a month or so and still having issues. This is normal and things will get better. It can take quite a few months for us to feel better. So many of us have gone undiagnosed for years, tens of years, so it makes sense that it will take longer than a few months to feel better.

One thing I want to suggest is logging a food diary and symptom notebook. This is an invaluable tool at helping us sort out which foods might be culprits. It can help us figure out cross contamination issues and other food intolerances.

I was just diagnosed celiac but have been gluten-free for 8 months and I still have the occasional issues. I still consider myself a newbie with this diet. It's a whole new lifestyle. About 5 months into the gluten-free diet it was discovered I have a soy intolerance. I was able to go back and look in my diary and see a pattern that I hadn't noticed before. I jot everything in there from dry eyes to GI issues to doc appointments and lab results. Then when I go to the doc I bring it along with me. No more having to remember it all in my head!

If I'm having issues now I go right back to keeping a food diary for a few days. I eat simply and then add things back in. For example I think I may have issues with chocolate. So I haven't had any for a few weeks and when I do I will keep the diary and track any changes in how my body reacts. If I see a pattern then I know I have an issue and will eliminate it from my diet.

Good luck!

Sounds like a good idea. I'm going to try it.

[YoloGx]

Sounds like a good idea. I'm going to try it.

This is an excellent idea. I did the same years ago long before I knew I had celiac. By going on a very restricted cave man diet and then gradually expanding my repetoire while writing down all my symptoms, (including my pulse by the way--before, after and then a couple of hours after eating) I was able to figure out I was intolerant of the wheat family. Long story short, it was only part of the problem. However it helped immeasurably. I also figured out a great many more food intolerances that way. It may be a good idea to do from time to time--makes me think I should do it again since I have an itchy area in my perineum that isn't really going away...I think its some kind of fungus however it often bothers me at times when I haven't eaten anything that should bother it so to speak, so something else may be going on... I also think over time one's intolerances lessen to a certain extent, so its good for helping figure that out too... Sometimes too I found I could occasionally have some food but only say once or twice a week--or that I could not combine it say with some "x" other food...

Bea

[Mac55]

Thanks for the post. I really think this is what I need to do at this point. I'm so up and down and I've been SOOO careful with cross-contamination issues and such. It probably does help to look at it in black and white and have it as a reference. My memory isn't what it used to be.