Food Diary... Is My Plan Reasonable?

[vegan lisa]

Hi! I've been struggling for a few years now with stomach pain and other celiac-like symptoms (joint pain, early menopause, brain fog). I've had negative blood work and a negative biopsy (May - June 2010). I went gluten free, just to try it, and it really helped. I'd say I'm 90% better, but not 100%. I also can't eat apples and a few other foods. I have a "fancy" new GI doc who seems committed to finding a cause for my symptoms.

The first few things he suggested all made me worse, including a food challenge for apples and wheat. I was so sick from the wheat challenge that I didn't try any other foods and just gave up and went back to my very restricted diet (in my opinion it's restricted... I still eat soy, though). It took me 2 weeks to get back to "ok" after 4 day challenge that worked up to 1 full serving on day 4.

Now fancy new GI doc wants me to keep a food diary for 6 weeks, documenting all my food and symptoms, and then to go back and see him. I asked the nurse who called with these instructions if I was supposed eat the food that make me sick and document that, or eat the foods that keep me well and document that. The nurse didn't know and said that it was up to me.

So here is my plan: eat foods that make me well, and then do a short (maybe 1 meal) challenge and document the results. I have some time off work in May, and the work I have to do when I'm at work is really minimal during that time, so this is manageable.

Does this sound like it would be helpful to the doc? For what it's worth, he does believe me that these foods make me sick, and it's possible he wants to document something before diagnosing "non-celiac gluten intollerance", which seems to be his plan. On the other hand, could it be something else I don't see? Soy, corn, chocolate? Is there any chance doctor going to be able to help? I guess I'll give it this one last try...

Any advice is really welcome. I don't really know how to go about the food diary. I have each page split so one column is everything I eat and the other is a list of symptoms. Any other tips? Suggestions? BTDT stories?

Thanks for the reassurance and support!!

Lisa

[GFinDC]

I suggest you search on threads for "elimination diet" and read up on them. Eating multitudes of foods is just too confusing IMHO. Even a food diary can't work wonders. You need to limit the playing field to pick out the winners.