Elimination Diet - Help!

[lucia]

I've been off gluten now for 3 and 1/2 months. My digestive issues initially cleared up pretty quickly, until I started reacting to other foods one at a time. I cut out dairy except for goat cheese and yogurt, then soy, then goat cheese when I started reacting to it too, then corn, and finally yogurt. Still, my stomach is in turmoil. I'm either newly sensitive to cross contamination, or else I'm reacting to even more foods. I've been around the board enough to know that this is common, and, at this point, people are often driven to try an elimination diet.

I'm scared of an elimination diet. I'm scared that I won't get the nutrition I need, and what little health I have will start downsliding again. Besides that, I'm one of those "one out of five" Americans who didn't get enough eat when they were kids, and I'm afraid of going hungry. Being able to eat in abundance is one of the qualities about my life now that separates it from my difficult past. There is a part of me that is freaking out about this. I'd like to make the experience as positive as possible for that reason.

I have reviewed strings on the forum about elimination diets. I see so much conflicting information. Some people go down to as little as 3 foods, while other people eat all organic veggies and fruits, meats, and specific grains. People have reported being sensitive to all grains, to rice, to quinoa, to fish, to fructose, and occasionally to unexpected items such as cucumbers. How do I even choose foods to start when everything is potentially an issue?

Another issue is that I'm a vegetarian, except for fish. I see that people on these diets will usually start with lamb or chicken, which are known to be easy to digest, for meat eaters. I know it's not a good idea to suddenly introduce meat into my diet, when it's likely I'm no longer producing the enzyme(s) that would allow me to easily digest it. I know that fish can be a common allergy. I know that some people recommend cutting out all beans. So, what do I do?

Finally, do I have to give up my green tea? Obviously coffee is an issue for some people since it's so acidic. But I've seen recommendations that people give up all caffeine while on an elimination diet. Giving up my green tea is going to be an issue in itself, since I am an addict. Even though I drink no more than 2 cups a day, if I don't have it, I get raging headaches.

Is there a standard set out somewhere for this process? Can anyone recommend an online source of information? That would be helpful. Thanks so much in advance for all of your collective wisdom. And if anyone wants to tell me how to get out of doing this, that would be great!

[mushroom]

I've been off gluten now for 3 and 1/2 months. My digestive issues initially cleared up pretty quickly, until I started reacting to other foods one at a time. I cut out dairy except for goat cheese and yogurt, then soy, then goat cheese when I started reacting to it too, then corn, and finally yogurt. Still, my stomach is in turmoil. I'm either newly sensitive to cross contamination, or else I'm reacting to even more foods. I've been around the board enough to know that this is common, and, at this point, people are often driven to try an elimination diet.

I'm scared of an elimination diet. I'm scared that I won't get the nutrition I need, and what little health I have will start downsliding again. Besides that, I'm one of those "one out of five" Americans who didn't get enough eat when they were kids, and I'm afraid of going hungry. Being able to eat in abundance is one of the qualities about my life now that separates it from my difficult past. There is a part of me that is freaking out about this. I'd like to make the experience as positive as possible for that reason.

I have reviewed strings on the forum about elimination diets. I see so much conflicting information. Some people go down to as little as 3 foods, while other people eat all organic veggies and fruits, meats, and specific grains. People have reported being sensitive to all grains, to rice, to quinoa, to fish, to fructose, and occasionally to unexpected items such as cucumbers. How do I even choose foods to start when everything is potentially an issue?

Another issue is that I'm a vegetarian, except for fish. I see that people on these diets will usually start with lamb or chicken, which are known to be easy to digest, for meat eaters. I know it's not a good idea to suddenly introduce meat into my diet, when it's likely I'm no longer producing the enzyme(s) that would allow me to easily digest it. I know that fish can be a common allergy. I know that some people recommend cutting out all beans. So, what do I do?

Finally, do I have to give up my green tea? Obviously coffee is an issue for some people since it's so acidic. But I've seen recommendations that people give up all caffeine while on an elimination diet. Giving up my green tea is going to be an issue in itself, since I am an addict. Even though I drink no more than 2 cups a day, if I don't have it, I get raging headaches.

Is there a standard set out somewhere for this process? Can anyone recommend an online source of information? That would be helpful. Thanks so much in advance for all of your collective wisdom. And if anyone wants to tell me how to get out of doing this, that would be great!

Obviously you are going to have to tailor your elimination diet to your own needs. You are right that the very basic suggestion is usually lamb, rice, applesauce. You could start with a mild white fish, rice and applesauce if you wanted to start that basic, but it is normally not necessary to go quite that far. Cooked carrots are generally well tolerated, and you might try some cooked peaches, some cherries, even some asparagus. I have not seen these mentioned as intolerances although I am sure you will find someone somewhere who is intolerant.

If you get a headache from giving up green tea it means you are addicted to caffeine and it might be a good idea to get rid of it. Try substituting some of the fruity herbal teas instead and put up with the headache for a day or two until it goes away.

Apart from that, you challenge a new food every two or three days. Try to make sure the challenge foods are in an easily digestible form - take the skins of apples and pears, cook things like broccoli and cauliflower really well, etc.

Good luck for finding a diet that agrees with you. As you heal more you will be able to safely add more and more things.

[T.H.]

I wish I had a good answer, but I ran into the same problem as you - so much information that didn't agree with each other. Confusing, and frustrating, and time consuming and at times, a bit scary, yes? In the end, I kind of jury rigged my own solution, had it tweaked for better 'workability' by my dietician, and then tweaked all of that again when I tried to figure out what was going on with my kids.

So....what I did is SORT OF getting out of doing an elimination diet, LOL. If you are still having issues, I really think it would be a good idea for you to keep a food log. The way I did it might help you avoid the worry of going hungry. It's boring, and a little work, but it might be able to help.

I go under this premise: the purpose of this is to find out what we're reacting to, yes? So, this is my technique at the moment that I'd be using again if I had to start tracking down bad foods, again.

1. Before you start, plan out your meals on a 3 day rotation, out of foods that are as close to 'made from scratch' as you can get. One, two, or three ingredients, max. By 3 day rotation, I mean plan to eat the SAME meals, with the same foods, for 2-3 days in a row. Then have a second set of meals, made from totally different foods, for the next 3 days. You could come up with a third set, too, or just alternate between the two sets. So you'd have Mealplan 1, mealplan 2, etc... Make it so you have NONE of the same ingredients used on the different meal plans. Not oils, salt (you're on sea salt now, yeah, for the corn avoidance?), tea, nothing. Making the mealplans ahead of time, you KNOW you'll have enough calories and food to eat. It's a little boring, eating the same food like that, but you don't feel hungry.

Also, it doesn't mean you'd have to eliminate tea, but maybe pick two different kinds, from different companies, that don't contain the same type of tea? Or maybe coffee during one and tea during another? Or tea for 2 days and not for another, but with your mention of headaches, that seems like it could be a problem. ( Oh! Do you know to avoid tea bags? Last I read, many tea bags are sealed with gluten.)

2. Make sure you try to eat these meals at as close to the same times every day as you can get.

3. Keep a food journal of every ingredient you eat, including companies the food is from, and all your symptoms. You might have to do some food research here. Like 'baking powder' as an ingredient contains a few things, such as a starch, that you may have to call and find out if they don't list it. You should note times, too. I'd suggest picking a few specific times during the day to check and list symptoms, whether good or bad, and then note down any specific symptoms when they crop up. For me, symptoms included How you feel emotionally, how you slept, how your gut is. It can all indicate a problem, if it's tracking in a pattern.

4. Check your food journal at 1, 2, and 3 weeks, and see if there are any patterns. A problem could be right after a food, or 24-48 hours after. If you are not eating the same foods, or you are eating your foods at specific times every day, it makes it more likely your reactions will be more regular, and hopefully will space out, so you can pin point them more easily. You might have to begin narrowing it down from there, and trying to eliminate foods that you think might be part of the problem, but I tend to view this diet as more of a, hmmmm, detection diet rather than an elimination one? Sort of a pre-elimination diet?

5. If you are trying to avoid any foods and you haven't looked at allergy sites for any of those yet, I'd recommend it. I was getting a lot of foods accidentally before I finally checked on some of the foods we avoided. It made a HUGE difference for us.

6. One last note, on choosing the foods for your diet? I think you might have more success if you choose organic, so you know you're not reacting to pesticides for the most part. Also, I think this method is most useful as an aid if you avoid whole food families on the different mealplans.

Examples:

---Grass family grains/foods on one meal plan (rice, teff, sugarcane, bamboo, so on) and non-grass family 'grains' on another (buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, and non-sugarcane sweeteners)

---legumes one mealplan, fish on the other. perhaps chicken on a third, if you want to add that in

---nightshades on one mealplan, sweet potatoes on another

---tree nuts and peanuts on one mealplan, and absent in the other.

Note - I didn't know if you had a potato starch baking powder or cornstarch baking powder, but those might be good in the grass family/nightshade consideration category, too, yeah?

Anyway, like I said, this isn't really an elimination plan, but I know for me, when I started FULLY avoiding some of my bad foods for at least a day or two, I finally noticed the reactions spacing out, and identified them for the first time as different than simply 'feeling bad all the time.' It's not perfect, and if there are enough foods you react to, or you have something like reactions to sulfites or fructose, it can be harder to figure out. But perhaps something like this might help you, if it's simpler!

Good luck!

[T.H.]

Whoops, just realized I misspoke on something I said! And I have no idea how to edit, so I'll just put it here!

1. Before you start, plan out your meals on a 3 day rotation, out of foods that are as close to 'made from scratch' as you can get. One, two, or three ingredients, max.

I meant to say that you want one,two, or three ingredients PER FOOD, max. I just realized like it seemed as though I was suggesting to have 1,2, or 3 ingredients a day.

Someday, I'll speak properly, LOL.

[ravenwoodglass]

I am going to advise you to find an allergist who will guide you through the process. When calling ask if they help with elimination diets as not all do and you don't want to waste your money and time with appointments with ones who won't. The allergist will take an history of what you diet typically includes and will give you the best starting point for you. The starting point will be designed so that you have the nutritional and caloric needs fulfilled. It is not easy to do one on your own. After a week or two on the prescribed diet you will begin adding stuff back in for a week at a time in single ingredient form. It really is the best way to go although it is a process. The allergist will have you call the office and report your progress on a weekly basis and mine had me call and report any adverse reactions immediately.

[gf-soph]

I can sympathise with you, I am currently about 3 weeks into an elimination diet. Sorry to say but there are no easy answers, as people can be sensitive to such strange things sometimes. I think you need to pick something with a sound logic to it and just try it out. Try to see the elimination diet as a short term deprivation in order to not unnecessarily deprive yourself of things down the track. By going through the process you may well be able to reintroduce things you aren't eating now. I am a vegetarian and started eating meat in order to try an elimination diet last year, and it failed as I was reacting to chicken. I say stay with fish, as you won

[Skylark]

I think Ravenwoodglass's suggestion of an allergist is a good one.

I personally went down to lamb, rice, lettuce, and pears. The main reason lamb is used is because it's not very allergenic, and Americans don't tend to eat it a lot so we're not sensitized. Game meats work well too. For you, I'd go with deep sea fish, though you'll have to pay attention to mercury. You might challenge one easy-to-digest legume like lentils as soon as you can. I went very restrictive as I have a lifelong history of allergies and was expecting a lot of reactions.

As far as caffeine, I tapered off the coffee the week before I started to avoid headaches. You should be able to drink maybe 1/2 cup less tea a day every couple days and taper without headaches. Alternatively, just keep drinking your tea and see if you feel OK with that as part of the elimination.

I'm really sorry to hear that you have some lingering fears about food. My grandmother was that way. She lived in a big family on a farm and food could be scarce in the wintertime, then the depression. She always kept lots of food around. Unfortunately, in her 80s she overate herself into obesity and type II diabetes. You really won't hurt yourself nutrition-wise eating only a few foods for a couple weeks, especially if you take a multivitamin to keep your B and C replenished. It takes a lot longer than that to push a person into serious malnutrition. You can eat plenty of whatever you choose on the elimination. Rice is filling, at least.

For me, lamb is a treat so that made the first couple weeks pleasant. I got cream of rice for breakfast, had sliced cold lamb on lettuce and a pear for lunch, and then lamb, rice, and greens for dinner. I treated myself to two different rices I really like, a Japanese short-grain and some really good jasmine rice. I also got as many different leaf lettuces as I could find and I've always loved Bartlett pears. It was still boring, but having the stomachaches and cramping go away after the first week totally made up for it.

Open Original Shared Link has a "rare foods" diet. The idea of this one is to avoid foods you eat a lot, as you're less likely to be sensitized to them.

Open Original Shared Link is another that's pretty permissive to start out. I don't agree with the nuts on it.

I ended up sensitive to cow casein (goat was OK), soy, shellfish, and gluten. After a year or so gluten-free I could eat all the other foods though I am a little suspicious of almonds lately...

[lucia]

Hi everyone,

I'm actually feeling better today, for the first time in a couple of weeks. If there's anything positive about this disease, it's that feeling normal is an occasion for incredible gratitude. I think it's because I made some changes preemptive to my elimination diet by cutting out all processed foods (including gluten free stuff) and limiting my condiments to olive oil and sea salt. Plus, I'm no longer eating yogurt and tempeh, which were okay for me until only very recently, but are not anymore.

Now that I'm feeling better, it's easier to contemplate a true elimination diet. I'm going to take ravenwoodglass' suggestion that I find an allergist who can work with me. In the meantime, I can concentrate on avoiding processed foods and weaning myself off of my green tea habit. Btw ... if it wasn't for harsh words here about that from mushroom, I'd insist on clinging to it.

Thanks so much everyone! Knowing that all of you have already gone through this process - and come out healthy! - makes it a lot easier. I never could have imagined all this when I first suspected celiac. It's not easy, but I know I'm lucky to find out the truth earlier rather than later.

best, lucia

[tarnalberry]

FYI, depending on in what way you're feeling better, you may well want to eliminate the green tea. Green tea (and a number of other foods) can contribute to reflux, and if you're having any of those types of symptoms, it's worth a try. Trust me, I know how hard it is - when I got pregnant, though I could have a cup or two if I really wanted, I went without green tea, and I'm still that way as my baby has reflux, and me drinking it could make her quite uncomfortable. So I'm looking at a year or two of no green tea, or maybe a cup a week. And that's down from two or three cups a day. (The headaches when you don't drink it are a sign of caffeine addiction, btw. You can wean yourself off of it to make the headaches not so bad.)

[sb2178]

I have one cup of black tea, on Sundays. It's delicious.

Also, when you're designing your diet, it very helpful to make sure you can make something portable that will do for snacks. An RD can also help with designing a good elimination diet, and, depending on your insurance situation, could be cheaper and more helpful with the psych issues. Investigate background first, though, as training and specializations vary.

[charles76]

Where to start.., I guess that's your question.

I've got multiple allergies and am *very* sensitive to gluten, and it took me quite a while, but ultimately the elimination diet, and being informed, has been the biggest help for me.

I agree with finding an allergenist, as support is always helpful, though hopefully you can find someone here who can recommend a good one.

I'm also from "farming" people (grandparents), but my parents were more food liberal.

I'm also from Seattle, so I understand not wanting to eliminate caffeine. Its my experience that stimulants, in the absence of all-day outdoor light exposure, help to stimulate digestion and counteract part of the allergic reaction, and brainfog - after-all this is what some hay-fever allergy medications attempt. So while its tempting to "eliminate" all "addiction" substances, which is sometimes a connotation of an elimination diet, its not always helpful, especially if you are drinking green tea. Unless you want to, but I think that is secondary.

The main purpose of the "elimination" diet, to me, is to get to a working baseline from which you can freely expand upon. Think of it more of gaining a stronghold instead of losing anything, because as mentioned above, the health and energy you gain will by far outweigh any caution in developing it.

I have also sought to go gluten-free as a vegetarian. Its definitely a struggle, and personal. I have ultimately turned to meat, although humanely processed, as a staple simply for this reason: Every plant produces chemical defense mechanisms for protection, while most animals rely on mobility and physical defenses. Beside egg and dairy allergies (from the immunoglobulins and lactose), most meat is very low-allergenic. Fish would be a great source too. And that is where I would start, even despite the potential mercury - unless you're pregnant. Also proteins are used up in all the immune recognition reaction, and personally my gut gets thrown off by too many beans, almost similar to wheat, no matter how I prepare them - and I've tried, and even though I crave their sweetness frequently.

I started with ground turkey. I added cane sugar, because at that time I had trouble with starches, even in applesauce - although I eat applesauce or canned pears almost everyday. I can't say the cane sugar is good for tartar build-up, much worse than other sugars, but I had problems with corn syrup too - the added vanilla, I think. So, I wasn't eating rice either, because I had just tried a dastardly dismal all-rice diet, but I eat rice every day now. And before I forget, I had to add fiber to that combination, definitely important - too which flax seeds fit the bill well. Although, sorry to add another caveat, but in hopes this helps you or someone else with pretty bad sensitivities, I found the flax seed needed be made fresh or else it turned 'rancid' tasting like acrylic paint smells, and required seaweed iodine to counteract the cyanogenic-ness. But again, I think that's a pretty extreme case. I mention it only for people who might be following a Specific Carbohydrate Diet, that while extreme, did help me.

So, the main point here is find some basics - fish, rice, and applesauce perhaps, and stick with them till you feel better. I never followed the "rotation diet" part of a lot of the elimination diets you see out there. In fact, I believe this causes unnecessary confusion. Look at how most animals eat, the same thing every day, which is not to say they don't eat until they are satisfied. There is no generally defined limit on how much to eat either, so relish in the bounty of eating as much of those things as you want - as long as that doesn't cause a problem. And from their you can add freely..

I also wanted to mention, that I kept getting more sensitive to other foods as I got better, but eventually that turned around once I got a foothold. I would try to identify what makes you feel the best, fish?, and gradually increase that along with a few others. That way you can just follow your steps backward if you feel you're starting to not do as well. Gradual, though, and I wouldn't worry too much. If applesauce doesn't bother you, I would go with that and fish, with maybe some extra fiber till you get a solid start.

Another thing about the vegetarian approach, if you wanted to add in, say some kosher chicken, I think you could do that gradually in small amounts without much problem.

If there were a standard, it might be what our primate relatives eat - leaves, semi-sweet fruit, ants and occasionally meat. They (and we) are descended from insectivores.

Oh, and be aware that even fillers in vitamins/medication can/(have caused myself at least) problems.

[krazydog]

This is my first post, I have been gluten free since July 4th (My Independence Day!!). I wanted to reply to this, because what we eat is so similar. I am a vegetarian who eats some fish (pescatarian). I also love green tea.

I started my gluten free adventure after 8 weeks of severe fatigue, and after my doctor ran a bunch of tests (all negative). I mentioned to my GP that a few years ago, when my neurologist tested me for anything she could think of for a year for a peripheral neuropathy (numb foot disease), that it could be celiac disease but that she didn't think so. So my GP suggested that I try an elimination diet. I did a bunch of research, and this is what I came up with that supported what I could eat and live with.

Open Original Shared Link

It eliminates most of the major food allergens: gluten, corn, potatoes, soy, citrus, strawberries, grapes (yeast), yeast, tomatoes, potatoes, caffeine, eggs, dairy, peanuts, alcohol, sugars, mushrooms, peppers, etc.

It also gives you a 7 day menu plan to help you figure out what to eat. (Please note that if you look carefully some of the recipes use ingredients that are not allowed! Oh, well.)

What it left me with is beans, rice, fruits & vegetables (except those listed above), nuts, a few oils, and brown rice syrup, agave syrup and stevia as a sweetener. They also allow meat and fish, but I don't eat meat and I chose to leave out fish (I don't really like it that much). Nothing processed. I could live with that. I also want to add quinoa and buckwheat, I just haven't done it yet.

After 6 days on this diet, I "woke up!". I didn't even realize how bad a brain fog I was under. The terrible fatigue was gone!! I knew that it had to be the gluten. So after 10 days on the elimination diet, my doctor wanted me to go back on for 5 days of a gluten diet, to get the celiac panel blood test. That was HORRIBLE! I just tested bread at first, and the symptoms returned quickly, and worse than before. I was very, very happy to get back on the elimination diet. Again, I woke up after 6 days. Please note that my blankety- blank blood test came out negative anyway! I am waiting on results from Enterolab.

It took me a little bit to figure out how to do this simply, and not have to spend so much time cooking. Brown rice takes a while to cook and so does dry beans. I didn't want to trust anything canned yet. I wanted to keep it very clean and simple. So I made up 3 cups of brown rice at a time, and froze what I wasn't going to eat in the next few days. (For great brown rice, saute up a few cloves of minced garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil, then add the dry rice and stir to mix in the good garlic flavors. Then add your water and sea salt). A different day, I would make up a bag of some kind of bean (soak overnight, or boil 5 minutes and let sit for an hour, and then simmer for 1 to an 1 1/2 hours with sea salt and a bay leaf), then saute up 2 cups of that, for a few day's meals, with onion, olive oil, cumin and turmeric, maybe some other veggies, and then freeze the rest of the beans plain for later. Another day, I cooked up a few sweet potatoes or acorn squash, and again froze what I wasn't going to use. Another day, I would cook up lentil soup and split pea soup, and freeze those in lunch size containers. That covers the basics. For breakfast, I roasted some brown rice in pan ( 1/2 bag) for 10 minutes, then used a clean coffee grinder to make creamy rice cereal. (1/3 cup rice, 1 cup water in the microwave for a few minutes). That needs to be stored in the refrigerator. I eat that with blueberries and walnuts and coconut milk. I LOVE coconut milk. It feels very healing. I also sometimes eat Lundberg brown rice cakes with cashew butter and apple butter. Cashew butter is wonderful! For lunch generally, I eat some form of rice and soup or beans (already in the refrig or freezer), a salad with olive oil and rice vinegar or steamed broccoli, and cut fruit with brown rice syrup and shredded coconut. I often put pumpkin seeds on the salad. For dinner, either some form or rice and beans or a broccoli garlic pasta (rice pasta cooked 8ox, steamed broccoli. Saute a generous amount of olive oil and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced. Add pasta and broccoli, and then throw in some of the plain cooked beans, and walnuts. Then that will also have left overs. I also like stuffed acorn squash, cooked spicy beans (from above) sauteed up with rice, onions, apple, currants, walnuts, a little brown rice syrup and more cumin and turmeric and stuff the squash with that. I also eat a lot of avocados, and dates for a sweet treat. Apples or celery with cashew butter are great too, as are the rice cakes.

I have started testing some foods. Some were fine, some weren't. I keep a detailed food journal. I test one thing for 2 meals of the day (if there is no immediate reaction) and keep the rest of the diet simple for 2 more days. If nothing happens, I can eat it. I try to stick to the restricted elimination diet, when I test new things or after I see symptoms from something, I eat simply till it goes away. Eating this way makes me feel great! I would not survive on the paleo diet, or the rotation diet, or trying to eat without brown rice. The funny thing is that all food cravings went away on this plan. The only thing is that sometimes after eating plenty, I will still feel a little hungry, and usually a spoonful of cashew butter or some coconut milk will heal it. It is a much lower fat level or something.

For the green tea issue, I just went to decaf green tea, and that solved that problem.

I started using 2 cookbooks that work pretty well with this, one is the Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook:

Open Original Shared Link

I have been off of sugar for years, and her recipes use almond flour, agave syrup and grapeseed oil. Very delicious desserts can be made with that, and the recipes are simple. I have been a bit intimidated by some of the gluten free recipes with 4 or more flours to mix.

Here is another one I just got, that looks great, the Gluten Free Vegan by Susan O'Brien (sorry I couldn't find a link that wasn't banned).

I haven't made anything from there yet, though. I would not have been able to go back to meat to feel better. I have about 23 years off of meat.

I wish you luck and I hope you start to feel better! Clean, simple, whole grain, fresh foods is the way to go!!! And if you want to test out the processed foods as needed very slowly and with caution.

[lucia]

Thanks so much for your input everyone.

I have been able to start a modified elimination diet. I was able to taper off of green tea (albeit with headaches when I finally quit; I think I'm really sensitive to caffeine) Now, I'm only eating: sunflower seeds, tuna, quinoa, sweet potatos, kale, bananas, and olive oil and sea salt. So far, so good. My GI symptoms have resolved. I'm hoping my diet will make a difference in my neurological symptoms.

And, the best part is that after a rocky start, my cravings have disappeared (at least, for now). I feel free! Free!

P.S.: A friend who is certified in TCM suggested that a good option for vegetarians would be mung beans, which would provide good protein and are still easy to digest. I remembered that my inlaws in India feed mashed-up mung beans to infants. I decided to go with tuna instead though since it's more filling.

[ravenwoodglass]

Thanks so much for your input everyone.

I have been able to start a modified elimination diet. I was able to taper off of green tea (albeit with headaches when I finally quit; I think I'm really sensitive to caffeine) Now, I'm only eating: sunflower seeds, tuna, quinoa, sweet potatos, kale, bananas, and olive oil and sea salt. So far, so good. My GI symptoms have resolved. I'm hoping my diet will make a difference in my neurological symptoms.

And, the best part is that after a rocky start, my cravings have disappeared (at least, for now). I feel free! Free!

P.S.: A friend who is certified in TCM suggested that a good option for vegetarians would be mung beans, which would provide good protein and are still easy to digest. I remembered that my inlaws in India feed mashed-up mung beans to infants. I decided to go with tuna instead though since it's more filling.

Glad to hear that your feeling better. When you are ready to start adding things back in be sure to add an item in for a full week, in it's pure form, before you decide that you can tolerate it. It can take up to a week for a reaction to occur with intolerances. I hope your progress continues well.

[lucia]

Glad to hear that your feeling better. When you are ready to start adding things back in be sure to add an item in for a full week, in it's pure form, before you decide that you can tolerate it. It can take up to a week for a reaction to occur with intolerances. I hope your progress continues well.

Thanks ravenwoodglass! Even though I thought I'd be miserable limiting my diet so much, I'm actually enjoying my new diet because I feel so much better.

[Skylark]

Lucia, that's great news! I'm so glad you're feeling better, and that the diet isn't stressing you out.

Ravenwoodglass' advice on adding things is spot-on. Add the simplest version of a food you can find and give plenty of time between new foods. I did three days, but I like her idea of a week better as I missed some things. (I thought rye was OK. Hah!) I challenged soy with edamame. I still remember that stomachache. Ow, ow, ow. I'm glad that intolerance went away.

Also, pay a little attention to whether your food is organic when you challenge corn and soy. There is growing evidence that GMO grains cause more allergies, and food labeled organic in the US is supposed to be non-GMO. Similarly, challenge non hormone/antibiotic treated milk or dairy products.

Good luck and I hope you find out what your problem foods are.