Rice Intolerance - What Can You Tolerate?

[gf-soph]

Hi all

I am on an elimination diet at the moment, have been for about 2 months. I have had some good improvements in GI symptoms, but still had problems with exhaustion and brain fog in particular. Things were reasonably consistent until I had a really bad week last week. I couldn't get out of bed until midday, missed work, felt moody and exhausted and generally awful.

I had a look over my food diary, and saw that I had started eating a lot more rice in the last week or so after adding in rice cakes. I cut rice out totally, and on the fourth day I woke up feeling amazing. I felt normal! I got a full days work done without the usual zoning out brain fog, have more liveliness and felt more myself than I have for a long time. I have now had 3 days in a row feeling significantly better, so I know it's not a coincidence.

My question for those of you with rice intolerance is - do you get the same reaction to all types of rice e.g. white vs brown, and to whole rice vs rice flour? I seemed to get reactions after adding in lots of whole rice cakes (definitely not a gluten issue), but haven't noticed it after eating processed gluten-free food made with rice flour.

I'm hoping that I can end up eating small amounts of rice as it would be hard to keep it out totally (though I will if I need to), so I will try reintroducing it at some point to work out if I have an amount that I am tolerant of.

Any experiences or info from those who have been though it are much appreciated.

Thanks

[Wolicki]

I had the same issue for about 6 months. ONe bite of rice and I looked hugely pregnant. Once I started testing it, I could tolerate a few bites of rice, or gluten free baked goods with rice flour. Trader Joes rice cakes, in moderation, were ok before actual rice. A year later, I can eat 1/2 cup rice with no issues. HTH

[RiceGuy]

I've read some brands of rice cakes are more subject to CC. So I wonder if it isn't rice, but trace amounts of gluten, or perhaps some other contaminate getting into the rice cakes. Especially since you've found products with rice flour seem tolerable.

Open Original Shared Link has some nice varieties of rice and other rice products. I've not heard of any CC issues from them.

[doreen32]

Hi all

I am on an elimination diet at the moment, have been for about 2 months. I have had some good improvements in GI symptoms, but still had problems with exhaustion and brain fog in particular. Things were reasonably consistent until I had a really bad week last week. I couldn't get out of bed until midday, missed work, felt moody and exhausted and generally awful.

I had a look over my food diary, and saw that I had started eating a lot more rice in the last week or so after adding in rice cakes. I cut rice out totally, and on the fourth day I woke up feeling amazing. I felt normal! I got a full days work done without the usual zoning out brain fog, have more liveliness and felt more myself than I have for a long time. I have now had 3 days in a row feeling significantly better, so I know it's not a coincidence.

My question for those of you with rice intolerance is - do you get the same reaction to all types of rice e.g. white vs brown, and to whole rice vs rice flour? I seemed to get reactions after adding in lots of whole rice cakes (definitely not a gluten issue), but haven't noticed it after eating processed gluten-free food made with rice flour.

I'm hoping that I can end up eating small amounts of rice as it would be hard to keep it out totally (though I will if I need to), so I will try reintroducing it at some point to work out if I have an amount that I am tolerant of.

Any experiences or info from those who have been though it are much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi, I don't think I have a rice intolerance per se (at least I hope I don't get that too). I can eat whole white rice and white rice flour that I have ground myself from dry white rice. However, I experience reactions if I have whole brown rice or packaged white rice flour, or any product that has been made with white rice flour, or of course, brown rice flour. As far as the white rice flour, I am thinking that it has something to do with the fineness of the ground rice? Not sure about the brown rice issue, but that may be due to too much fiber. Don't think I'll ever figure this stuff out! Guess things affect everyone differently.

Doreen

[jststric]

I also have a rice-intolerance. I learned I can do straight wild rice pretty easily. Brown rice from time to time. The rice flours that are used in gluten-free foods are ok only if I don't have them everyday. If I let several days go by between eating them, I do ok also. But its easy to get impatient when you can have SOME of something, especially when its the alternative in gluten-free foods. I often get caught eating it too often. To make matters worse....I am also bean-intolerant, another gluten-free alternative. Makes life....complicated, lol.

[gf-soph]

I used to think that to have a problem with rice would be the end of the world, but I have felt so good the last few days I honestly dont care! I am not planning on cutting it out unless I really need to, but I have plenty of things to introduce before I get to it.

Wolicki - thanks for the info, I'm hoping I can increase my tolerance over time once I have figured out all my intolerances.

riceguy - great name for the topic! I had considered cc, but he rice cakes are labelled gluten free and I'm in Australia so the labelling is 5 ppm, i eat other products of the same gluten-free standard and don't react. It also didn't feel like my gluten reaction, so I tend to think it's the rice. When I start eating it again, i will keep my eye out and see if we get Lundberg here

doreen32 - I don't think it's the fibre exactly, as I didn't have any GI problems, more mood/concentration. It is something to consider that I just don't find it digestable, which might be part of the problem

jststric - i hear you - I am vegetarian but can't handle legumes right now due to them causing havoc on my gi system. before the eliminatino diet I was eating quinoa for meals, and rice only really in processed foods, so I wonder if my body was guiding me away from it. I used to eat lots of brown rice, then just went off it. I will give wild rice a try, thanks!!

Thank you all for your input - I love what a great source of info this board is!

[RiceGuy]

If you haven't tried a digestive enzyme formula, it might be worth doing. Just make sure it is derived completely from microbial sources. Otherwise they tend to get destroyed by the acidity of the stomach. Consider NOW Foods Digest Gold, or the one from Doctor's Best. There are probably other decent ones out there, but those two I recently found when looking for a more complete formula.

[sweeeeet]

Rice cakes used to be a staple for me for breakfast since bread was out of the question. I'd put peanut butter on it. But forget that, they put me into a coma 20 minutes after eating them, even with an enzyme first. I'd be just like you, barely able to get up due to sheer exhaustion, my head spinning, and pounding. How I miss rice cakes w/ peanut butter.