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Anyone Done An Elimination Diet?


Luvbeingamommy

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Luvbeingamommy Contributor

I am thinking of possibly doing a modified elimination diet??

I've been gluten-free a little over 3 months and feel TONS better. I still have some mild nausea, that's more just annoying then bothersome. I'd kind of like to maybe pin point what is making me nauesous?? I don't know, I'd really like to be 100% nausea free, was REALLY bad before I went gluten-free. The other stomach issues seem much better.

I did the enterolab dairy test and I scored an 8 and 10 is considered positive, so I think I should be okay there?? Or would that be enough to maybe cause symptoms??

Sometimes I wonder if this is even food related?? My GI thought maybe delayed gastric emptying. He said it's VERY hard to treat and if it's just mild to just try to live with it. I've though about digestive enzymes? He said might take your stomach time to heal from the damage?? Has anyone had symptoms mildly this long?

Anyone been here done that sort of thing?? I guess if I went down to chicken and rice and a few other less allergenic things, I would know if the nausea is tied to food or not??


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sb2178 Enthusiast

Just did a short elimination diet as part of diagnosis. It was annoying but very helpful. Basically, established a basic diet and worked on adding things back in every three days or so. Here's a rough outline of what I did.

* should possibly not be in your base, but I knew these wouldn't be a problem for me.

First week: rice, millet, lamb, fish*, almonds*, carrots, summer squash, applesauce (nothing raw)

Second week: same, plus canned pears and pineapple, sweet potato (maybe it was the next week?)

Third week: dairy and gluten, turkey

Four: corn and legumes (some additional veg)

Five: Soy

Basically, the gluten has been the only noticeable problem, although straight milk in large quantities leads to interesting gurgling noises. Dropping dairy for two-three weeks would be pretty simple and may give you the answer you need.

Helpful during my pre-diagnosis period: digestive enzymes (Digest Gold is really effective but $$$, Whole Foods is less effective but $), probiotics, and slow walks after meals.

G'luck.

WheatChef Apprentice

Considering the recent study that found multiple forms of Millet, including the whole grain, being contaminated with gluten it would probably not be a good idea to include that into your elimination diet.

GlutenFreeManna Rising Star

I did an elimination diet where I eliminated all grains, all dairy, all sugars except a little honey, and all forms of caffeine. I ate mainly grilled chicken, steaks and burger patties, eggs, steamed veggies, raw veggies, and a few fruits. I did this for a month before adding foods in one at a time to see my reactions. If you don't think you could make it a month, I think you could find out after just a week or two. I felt lousy my first week, but felt great by my second week and probably could have added something back in then.

RideAllWays Enthusiast

The one my allergy doctor put me on was rice, plain turkey, potatoes, spinach, and canned peaches. I ate that for two weeks, then did three day trial periods of different groups. Some examples were dairy products, citrus fruits, vegetables, wheat products (leave this one out!), corn and other grains (If you react you'll have to break it down further), poultry, red meat, etc..keep adding bit by bit for a few days and keep a journal to track how you are feeling with certain foods added. You can google elimination diet and find some pretty helpful calendars for tracking the diets as well. Good luck!

jackay Enthusiast

I went on an elimination diet combined with a candida cleanse. I started out with just cooked turnips, chicken, olive oil and sea salt. I slowly added more foods. I am now up to over fifty foods. The only one I know for sure I reacted to was cucumber. Lime may be another one but I haven't challenged it again.

I'm not sure I conquered the candida but will be adding more fruits and gluten free grains to my diet and will see what happens. I'm taking it slowly and can't wait to try peanut butter, ice cream and some of the gluten free treats such as donuts and muffins.

Skylark Collaborator

I found my gluten sensitivity with an elimination diet. It worked great! I ate pretty much only lamb, rice, and leafy greens for about two weeks. My stomach totally settled down and the diarrhea my doctors could never explain vanished.

What I found is that I was reacting to gluten, soy, and cow casein. Soy gave me stomach aches, but not as much trouble as wheat. After about a year gluten-free I was able to go back to eating soy and cow dairy.


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Gutsy Girl Rookie

Considering the recent study that found multiple forms of Millet, including the whole grain, being contaminated with gluten it would probably not be a good idea to include that into your elimination diet.

Whoa!!!!??? Millet being contaminated with GLUTEN? Oh man! Maybe that explains what I went through with Pamela's bread mix?! Oh sheesh.

Well, I guess whether or not I have a millet allergy, I'm just going to stay away from it period. My face swelled up and it was just really bad - lots of strange allergy-like problems plus increased ataxia, 2.5 weeks of bad GI problems, and some of the things I deal with when I have gluten.

Anyone hear that Pamela's products got glutened by the millet flour?

luvs2eat Collaborator

Whoa!!!!??? Millet being contaminated with GLUTEN? Oh man! Maybe that explains what I went through with Pamela's bread mix?! Oh sheesh.

Well, I guess whether or not I have a millet allergy, I'm just going to stay away from it period. My face swelled up and it was just really bad - lots of strange allergy-like problems plus increased ataxia, 2.5 weeks of bad GI problems, and some of the things I deal with when I have gluten.

Anyone hear that Pamela's products got glutened by the millet flour?

I've been using Pamela's bread mix for years w/ no problems. Is this a new problem that all of her mixes were contaminated w/ millet flour? Or that it contains millet flour and you reacted to it?

Are you asking if anyone HERE had the same problems or did we HEAR that all her mixes were contaminated?? Sorry I'm being dense, but I'll be really upset if I can't use her mixes anymore!

my.oh.my Newbie

I've been using Pamela's bread mix for years w/ no problems. Is this a new problem that all of her mixes were contaminated w/ millet flour? Or that it contains millet flour and you reacted to it?

Are you asking if anyone HERE had the same problems or did we HEAR that all her mixes were contaminated?? Sorry I'm being dense, but I'll be really upset if I can't use her mixes anymore!

Personally never tried Pamela's but I say that you don't have to stop eating it now if you didn't react to it ever exceppt if you find out that you can't have millet. Pamela's sounds safe since many on this forum eat it.

Gutsy Girl Rookie

I've been using Pamela's bread mix for years w/ no problems. Is this a new problem that all of her mixes were contaminated w/ millet flour? Or that it contains millet flour and you reacted to it?

Are you asking if anyone HERE had the same problems or did we HEAR that all her mixes were contaminated?? Sorry I'm being dense, but I'll be really upset if I can't use her mixes anymore!

Millet is a listed ingredient in Pamela's bread mix. Didn't see it in all her mixes, however; just some. Yet it was very clear, after I made a list of what I had eaten, when I had the big D during the day, and what time I had eaten the Pamela's bread I had made that it was VERY CLEARLY something in the bread that I was reacting to.

Yet my reaction to the bread wasn't the same as a full-blown gluten reaction. And I'd never had one side of my face all swell up either - that was new to me! I had totally bloodshot and painful eyes for about two weeks, which also isn't a normal symptom of being glutened for me. Also a fever for a few days, and just a mess of odd stuff. So I didn't immediately think it was gluten.

Rather, I wondered if it was a new ingredient that I'd never eaten before. Lo and behold, there were two new ingredients to my body - the chicory root and the millet flour. Everything else I'd already eaten without problems. I did some web research and found that basically nobody has reported having an allergic reaction to it. When I googled millet, however, I saw that many who have celiac are sensitive to millet even though it doesn't have "bad" gluten in it. So it was with the process of elimination (as I had NOT added ANYTHING to my diet other than the bread) that lead me to the conclusion that I'm reacting to millet flour.

I just read here that a number of different flours including millet, which have been assumed gluten free, have actually been quite contaminated...likely through harvesting, growing, and perhaps transport procedures. So I was just thinking, "Oh my gosh! What if the millet in Pam's Products was glutened?! And perhaps I was having a gluten reaction after all (because reactions can change over time) and it wasn't just millet itself?" But thinking about it more, the idea that I'm just reacting to the millet and intolerant of that seems to make more sense.

So for those who aren't sensitive to millet, my guess is that Pam's Products are still okay.

T.H. Community Regular

well, one thing to think of is that many celiacs will be lactose intolerant until their guts are healed. My GI has all his recovering celiacs avoid dairy for the first 6-12 months after they go gluten free. That's probably a good place to start.

If you were going to do more avoidance, I think the 8 most common allergens might be good to avoid next - that's what I ended up doing for me and my kids, and we found the foods that were causing the problems. Also, avoiding those foods made us eat more non-processed foods, so when there WERE foods that we weren't avoiding that were bad, we caught them more easily.

good luck.

I am thinking of possibly doing a modified elimination diet??

I've been gluten-free a little over 3 months and feel TONS better. I still have some mild nausea, that's more just annoying then bothersome. I'd kind of like to maybe pin point what is making me nauesous?? I don't know, I'd really like to be 100% nausea free, was REALLY bad before I went gluten-free. The other stomach issues seem much better.

I did the enterolab dairy test and I scored an 8 and 10 is considered positive, so I think I should be okay there?? Or would that be enough to maybe cause symptoms??

Sometimes I wonder if this is even food related?? My GI thought maybe delayed gastric emptying. He said it's VERY hard to treat and if it's just mild to just try to live with it. I've though about digestive enzymes? He said might take your stomach time to heal from the damage?? Has anyone had symptoms mildly this long?

Anyone been here done that sort of thing?? I guess if I went down to chicken and rice and a few other less allergenic things, I would know if the nausea is tied to food or not??

  • 4 months later...
Loey Rising Star

Just did a short elimination diet as part of diagnosis. It was annoying but very helpful. Basically, established a basic diet and worked on adding things back in every three days or so. Here's a rough outline of what I did.

* should possibly not be in your base, but I knew these wouldn't be a problem for me.

First week: rice, millet, lamb, fish*, almonds*, carrots, summer squash, applesauce (nothing raw)

Second week: same, plus canned pears and pineapple, sweet potato (maybe it was the next week?)

Third week: dairy and gluten, turkey

Four: corn and legumes (some additional veg)

Five: Soy

Basically, the gluten has been the only noticeable problem, although straight milk in large quantities leads to interesting gurgling noises. Dropping dairy for two-three weeks would be pretty simple and may give you the answer you need.

Helpful during my pre-diagnosis period: digestive enzymes (Digest Gold is really effective but $, Whole Foods is less effective but $), probiotics, and slow walks after meals.

G'luck.

I started the elimination diet about a week ago and have been only eating rice, chicken and apples. I did see improvement but went to a rock concert Friday night and was surrounded by beer and other foods that weren't gluten-free. I think I'm REALLY sensitive right now.

I'm new to the forum (it's been a Godsend). I was just diagnosed in June and moved to a new state the day after. My old GI thought it went undiagnosed for a long time. She wanted me to have the capsule endoscopy when I moved. Not thrilled with my current GI. I had to really push for the capsule endoscopy (had it yesterday). I'm looking into a new GI who was recommended by my husband's colleague.

Initially I was feeling better but had a major flare 4 weeks ago. The pain has been excruciating and that prompted the elimination diet. My husband's concerned that I'm not eating vegetables. I'm willing to give up whatever foods I need to feel better. I'd like to add in eggs but don't know if I should. I get so angry that the FDA isn't more strict about the labeling issues.

Right now I'm an unemployed elementary and special education teacher and need to feel better so I can go back to work. I went back to grad school at 50 for a second career (was a stay at home mom in between) and managed to teach during the day and go to school at night. I can't even imagine subbing right now.

Any advice about what to add in next would be greatly appreciated. This forum has already given me so much. I'm an avid research geek so if you ever want me to look for info just let me know.

I'm posting a list of medications below that are supposed to be gluten-free. Obviously we still need to read the labels and be careful.

Loey smile.gif

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