How Long To See Improvement After Eliminating Food?

[sreese68]

Edited: Feel really good today. Think I pinned it down to glutening. Update post #7.

****OP****

I'm down to 15 foods, and my stomach still isn't great. I had pain yesterday, and I honestly don't know why. I keep getting bloating, gas, and constipation on and off. I keep flirting with dairy free, but I haven't stuck with it long term. It's now day 4 without it, and I still feel iffy. How long do I need to stay off a food before its effects go away?

Also, I assume if I still feel bad after X number of days I need to cut another food out (going down to 14 foods) and see if this helps?

[cahill]

I'm down to 15 foods, and my stomach still isn't great. I had pain yesterday, and I honestly don't know why. I keep getting bloating, gas, and constipation on and off. I keep flirting with dairy free, but I haven't stuck with it long term. It's now day 4 without it, and I still feel iffy. How long do I need to stay off a food before its effects go away?

Also, I assume if I still feel bad after X number of days I need to cut another food out (going down to 14 foods) and see if this helps?

what are the 15 foods you are currently eating??

[sreese68]

what are the 15 foods you are currently eating??

I forgot to include coffee in my count. I do drink coffee - 4 cups a day. I plan on starting to cut back this week. Only thing else I drink is water. And I take 5 Citrucels a day. I also take fish oil, multivitamin, and vitamin D. All gluten free. (My gluten symptoms are neuro, not GI.)

Chicken

hamburger meat

pork (this may be an issue)

eggs

peanut butter

blueberries

strawberries

citrus (tangelo or orange)

carrot

dark green lettuce

potato

white rice

corn (tostado, tortilla)

corn cereal

white rice cracker

I know that brown rice, tomatoes, and foods with more fructose than glucose are a problem. I haven't been able to test anything else. I get stomach pain, gas, etc two days after I eat a food that bothers me.

I've thought about the ELISA or (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned) test, but I'm a little concerned it wouldn't help more than an elimination diet would.

[cahill]

I forgot to include coffee in my count. I do drink coffee - 4 cups a day. I plan on starting to cut back this week. Only thing else I drink is water. And I take 5 Citrucels a day. I also take fish oil, multivitamin, and vitamin D. All gluten free. (My gluten symptoms are neuro, not GI.)

Chicken

hamburger meat

pork (this may be an issue)

eggs

peanut butter

blueberries

strawberries

citrus (tangelo or orange)

carrot

dark green lettuce

potato

white rice

corn (tostado, tortilla)

corn cereal

white rice cracker

I know that brown rice, tomatoes, and foods with more fructose than glucose are a problem. I haven't been able to test anything else. I get stomach pain, gas, etc two days after I eat a food that bothers me.

I've thought about the ELISA or (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned) test, but I'm a little concerned it wouldn't help more than an elimination diet would.

If I could make a suggestion,,,,

Check your fish oil,vitamins,corn cereal and rice crackers to see if they are soy /dairy free.

Also try dropping the white potato in favor of sweet potato and see if that helps.

The coffee may also be an issue, it was for me.

I would give myself at least 2 weeks off of a food to make sure the effects of that food had cleared from my body.

[IrishHeart]

I would suggest coffee is a major gut irritant for those of us with leaky guts. (I know ..I hated giving that up too) and the dairy is likely a problem as well. (sorry)

Lactase, which is the enzyme that breaks down the sugar lactose, is produced in the tip of the villi.

When the villi get blunted in celiac disease, sometimes the ability to digest lactose is decreased and you can become lactose intolerant. This may cause bloating, stomach cramps, diarrhea,constipation, etc. After you go gluten-free, the villi will heal and most people are able to tolerate dairy foods again.

Maybe try probiotics? Helps clear up the constipation. Leaky guts have unbalanced gut flora and need good bacteria. Citrucel is full of dyes and who knows what and will not resolve the C. (been there, done that )

here's a link to why probiotics can help celiac/leaky guts

Open Original Shared Link

Just my opinion-- based on similar issues. They have resolved for me and I hope they do for you as well! Best wishes!

[domesticactivist]

I forgot to include coffee in my count. I do drink coffee - 4 cups a day. I plan on starting to cut back this week. Only thing else I drink is water. And I take 5 Citrucels a day. I also take fish oil, multivitamin, and vitamin D. All gluten free. (My gluten symptoms are neuro, not GI.)

Chicken

hamburger meat

pork (this may be an issue)

eggs

peanut butter

blueberries

strawberries

citrus (tangelo or orange)

carrot

dark green lettuce

potato

white rice

corn (tostado, tortilla)

corn cereal

white rice cracker

I know that brown rice, tomatoes, and foods with more fructose than glucose are a problem. I haven't been able to test anything else. I get stomach pain, gas, etc two days after I eat a food that bothers me.

I've thought about the ELISA or (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned) test, but I'm a little concerned it wouldn't help more than an elimination diet would.

I'll second what the others have said. Also, looking at your list it doesn't look like the most gut-friendly list ever. Even if your gluten symptoms are neuro, it still could have damaged your gut.

The ELISA is good for detecting IgE issues (actual allergies) but the thing I now believe about IgG intolerances is that a leaky gut will make anything you eat into a problem. I have a cousin whose child had to be on a strict rotation diet because he developed such severe food intolerances after eating foods. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, who developed the GAPS diet explains how damage to the gut results in intolerances to new foods in her book.

I agree with the others who suggest getting the gut flora back in balance. We are doing that with the GAPS diet, which isn't an elimination diet, but can seem that way at first.

It starts out with as long as you need to adjust to a diet of homemade bone broths, homemeade naturally probiotic foods (fermented vegetables, water kefir, then homemade yogurt), and cooked vegetables. All grains, fruits, sugar (honey is allowed in small quantities), coffee and starchy veggies like potatoes are out. You stop feeding the candida in your gut and introduce healthy bacteria. Then you slowly add in muscle meats, egg yolks, more eggs, juiced veggies, fruit, nuts, etc. This diet is very high in saturated fats (like coconut, avacado, tallow, ghee, etc) as well. Some supplements are also recommended, like probiotics, MG, fermented cod liver oil.

This diet has resulted in a number of health improvements for every member of our family. We've been on it for 5 months and are now on the "Full" diet. It does include some foods that we have realized are problems for some of us. For instance, cheese in all but small quantities turns out to cause my bad breath, stomach heaviness, and crazy thoughts. Any time you start feeling off on this diet, you just return to the earlier stages and eat more soup. I (not celiac) felt like crap "gluten-free" and my (celiac) son kept getting "glutened" until we cut out all grains and started GAPS.

It also sounds like the meat you are getting might be cross-contaminated. Buying meat cut at the store can be a problem. We raise and slaughter some of our own meat, and we buy the rest from local farmers. They are not cutting the meat anywhere near processed meat products or flour bulk bins, so it's safer. Natural food stores have all sorts of things we can't eat.

[sreese68]

Trying to keep this short. I have a major all-day headache from dental work this morning. Tiny cavities, but at gum line. Ouch!

I started feeling better last night and have felt good all day today - well my GI tract, not the head!

I think I may have been having symptoms from glutening. I had a friend help me get the last of the flour out of the house and clean the last of the shelves that needed it. I stayed in the kitchen while she did it and didn't touch any gluten, but I still had jitteriness that night and tingling legs the next day. Today, I remembered reading that nerve problems can cause the intestines to slow down. The worst pain/constipation I had was 4 days after glutening, so it may have been caused by my nerves and not by a recent food eaten. Just a theory of course, so will keep dairy out longer just in case and see what happens.

Thanks for everyone's input!! I do appreciate the info and the time people take to post! And in reply:

I double checked vitamins etc and all are allergen free.

I ran into one of my friends with celiac last night. She also told me to get probiotics and reminded me that healing takes time. Said to focus on what I can eat and not what I can't. Wise woman. Have been investigating probiotics today and will get some.

I looked into the GAPS diet, and (no offense) it'd only be a diet of desperation for me. I dislike vegetables and fermented vegetables really turn my stomach. Don't think I could handle it. I'm getting together with two celiac households tomorrow (actually knew them pre-diagnosis), so I will ask them if they have problems with the raw meat from the grocery store. I hadn't thought about that one. Thanks!

Not keeping this all that short...

[jenngolightly]

I forgot to include coffee in my count. I do drink coffee - 4 cups a day. I plan on starting to cut back this week. Only thing else I drink is water. And I take 5 Citrucels a day. I also take fish oil, multivitamin, and vitamin D. All gluten free. (My gluten symptoms are neuro, not GI.)

Chicken

hamburger meat

pork (this may be an issue)

eggs

peanut butter

blueberries

strawberries

citrus (tangelo or orange)

carrot

dark green lettuce

potato

white rice

corn (tostado, tortilla)

corn cereal

white rice cracker

I know that brown rice, tomatoes, and foods with more fructose than glucose are a problem. I haven't been able to test anything else. I get stomach pain, gas, etc two days after I eat a food that bothers me.

I've thought about the ELISA or (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned) test, but I'm a little concerned it wouldn't help more than an elimination diet would.

I see that you're feeling better... but although you've eliminated a lot of foods, you're still eating many of the foods that people on this forum have problems with. Dairy, nightshades, corn, eggs, and rice. I don't think you need to do the GAPS diet to pin down the problem (if you have one). Since you're feeling better, maybe you don't have problems with these foods. But if you start feeling bad again, I'd take off the foods I mentioned for 2 to 3 weeks, then add one back in each week and see what happens. You'll probably tell very quickly which is the offending food.

I hope you're well and nothing on your list is a problem.

[domesticactivist]

I do understand not wanting to bother with GAPS - it's a lot of work to figure it all out. If you can make improvements some other way by all means do it. Even just taking some of the principles will probably help - to e the most important are eliminating cross contamination, eat whole, organic foods, restoring the presence of healthy bacteria in the gut, and eliminating di and polysaccharide sugars.

I'm especially glad to read that you've eliminated the cross-contamination. That is a first step for sure and made a huge difference for us as well.

I just made a how-to post on here for the basics of preparing to Start GAPS if you end up deciding to try it.