Whole Food Only Diet

[xxkristin]

I'm about to start my whole foods only diet. I've been told that this entails eating pretty much only fruits, vegetables, meat, and nuts. Does that mean that I can't have milk? I read on the board that people with celiac may be temporarily lactose intolerant until their intestines heal. Would it be ok for me to drink lactose free milk during the whole foods only diet, or should I just take gluten free calcium supplements instead?

[xxkristin]

Also, are there any fruits/vegetables that I should avoid while on the whole foods only diet? I've read that people can be intolerant to corn, so maybe I shouldn't eat corn?

[rosetapper23]

I'm not sure what you mean by a whole foods diet, but I would imagine that dairy products would be part of any such diet. Not all of us are intolerant of dairy. Mainly, I think that the idea is to avoid processed foods.

[joej1]

A lot of people have problems with dairy until they heal up. Take all dairy out for a few weeks then add it back in and see how you feel. At least that way you will know.

[sa1937]

Unless you have a casein intolerance, you might want to try Lactaid milk, which is 100% lactose-free. I've used Lactaid milk from day one without a problem even though I couldn't tolerate other dairy products very well. I've also used butter without a problem. (I've since started eating more cheese like cheddar, mozzarella, etc. and seem to tolerate them fine). Breyer's makes a lactose-free ice cream, too (same price as their regular ice cream).

I wouldn't just assume you have a problem with corn just because a lot of others do. Corn in one form or another is in so many products...cornstarch as a binder in vitamins and meds for example. I think it would be more difficult to eliminate than gluten

I also take a calcium supplement and vitamin D3.

I agree with rosetapper that a whole foods diet would be to avoid processed foods. And unless you have another reason to avoid them, eggs are not dairy so you might want to include them in your whole foods diet...they're an excellent source of protein.

[domesticactivist]

Whole foods means that the food is unprocessed. We consider pasteurized milk a processed food and choose organic raw milk from pastured cows, which we get directly from a farmer. Many people who can't handle store bought milk are fine with the kind of milk we get.

The diet we are on is aimed at restoring gut health and is an all whole foods diet. It goes further, introducing ferments (good bacteria), making sure you get enough fat, and eliminating most sources of sugar. We do get to process foods at home - cooking them, soaking them, drying them, fermenting them... Rather than drink milk, we ferment it first - turning it to yogurt or kefir.

Here is stuff I posted about milk on the "where are these food sensitivities coming from" thread:

Lactose: Lactose is the sugar found in milk. It is a disacharide sugar, which needs processing to be digested. Celiac guts have damaged villi, and villi are where the lactase necessary to digest lactose is made. If you have damaged villi, lactose will be a problem!

Cultured and fermented foods: In cultured and fermented foods, bacteria and/or yeasts do the work of digesting the sugars for you. Yogurt that is adequately cultured does not have lactose in it. Same deal with milk kefir. This makes them safe to eat for people with an inability to digest lactose. Much of the casein gets processed by the fermenting microbes as well. This process is generally not complete in the yogurt or kefir you would get in the store. Also, the pasturized milk used only has the introduced cultures, not the good natural stuff you get when you do it at home with raw milk. We use raw, organic milk for our yogurt and kefir, and are careful not to heat it too high before culturing it. We'll be putting blogs up with step by step instructions soon.

Casein: Casein is the protein found in milk. Like grains, it is one of the bigger proteins and is prone to turning into an opiate form (casomorphins) and getting through the gut and into the body and wrecking havoc like gluteomorphins do. When people have true allergies (IgE) to milk it is due to this protein. The proteins in goat milk and human milk are different, so they can be tolerated by some people who are allergic to cow milk.

Ghee: Ghee is clarified butter. Butter is already naturally low in lactose, because the lactose stays in the liquid that comes off in the churning process. When you make ghee, you remove the casein protein from the butter. This changes the butter so that it can be used to cook with at high temperatures, and changes it so that if you have problems with casein, the ghee is safe to eat. Ghee is fine to buy in the store, but we prefer to make our own from organic unsalted butter. All you do is put a bunch of butter in a heavy saucepan, heat it for about a half hour so that it bubbles and foams (but doesn't scorch), then skim off all the foam. Then you set up a funnel with a filter or cheesecloth and pour it into a jar. It can be stored on the counter.

All this said, I'm not suggesting you go nuts on the dairy if it's been giving you problems! The diet we are on does not start out with dairy, and Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, (the author of the GAPS book) says to do a sensitivity test before introducing new foods - you take a bit of the food and place it inside your wrist at night and look at it for any reaction in the morning. Reaction=not ready for that food. She also says IgG reactions are due to gut permeability. Healed gut = no more/fewer IgG problems.

[kdonov2]

Sounds like the "Cave-man" diet. That diet is meant to eliminate all foods which were not eaten by our ancestors, milk included. They ate what they hunted and gathered. Many people are allergic/intolerant to the altered "foods" that we eat today and feel much better after removing those things from their diet.

[xxkristin]

Thanks for the advice. By whole foods only diet, I meant as in the elimination diet. I was just diagnosed about 2 months and have been at school so I haven't started the elimination diet yet since it would be difficult to do at school. But now that the summer's starting, I'm going to do it. I've read that you should eat whole foods only until your symptoms go away and then introduce foods one at a time to see what you can tolerate. So I think I'll just avoid dairy for now (and take calcium supplements in the mean time) and then reintroduce it later and see what happens. Also, with eggs, I don't know if I'm intolerant to eggs, so I guess I'll have to cut them out too and then reintroduce them later as well.

[Debbie B in MD]

Domesticactivist----Where are you that you can buy raw milk? That would be great.