Semi-Elimination Diet

[Ollie's Mom]

If I were you, I'd just skip the rice milk altogether. When I did an elimination diet, all I had to drink was water. imho, there's no point throwing something into your elimination diet that is highly processed with ingredients you can't control...

[Strawberry-Jam]

Sorry for being a bit slow, Skylark. I had just been researching the low-sal diet a lot. I think I will have to test for that first because it is more likely--I just had tahini & rice cakes for dinner last night and had a whole bunch of symptoms that started up immediately and lasted through the night (I had to take sleeping medicine in order to fall asleep).

I will try to get some vegetable that is low in fructose AND salicylates but a lot of those are legumes which are out... would Brussels sprouts work? I really like those.

[Skylark]

If that's the case I can see why you're more intent on salicylates! Yolo here on the board is salicylate intolerant so she might be of help.

Mom doesn't eat cruciferous veggies much. They have some raffinose (the same stuff that causes people problems with beans) and both those and beans tend to bother her stomach. I think brussels sprouts OK as far as fructose if you can tolerate raffinose.

[Strawberry-Jam]

okay! I think they will be fine, but I will wait until my system has settled down a little before I try them. Got some in my freezer right now. I love eating a bowl of Brussels sprouts cooked in bacon grease with a few slices of bacon... I'm not eating processed meats atm but I can't wait until I can try bacon again

Right now I'm having rooibos tea with my breakfast (turkey and rice). Apparently rooibos tea is low sal because it is naturally decaf and is technically not a tea, but just a bush they make tea out of. It's not really a sugar-and-milk kind of tea but I added a bit if rice milk so I can pretend it's caffeinated tea before I go to work...

[domesticactivist]

We tried elimination diets in the past with no success. However, we've had much better luck with GAPS (which is aimed specifically at solving the kinds of problems you mention and which I share).

It starts out with a very basic diet of the most readily digested, nutrient-dense foods (bone broth with some veggies). Then you add in homemade probiotic foods. You slowly add in new foods one at a time, according to the order indicated in the book. By doing this, you start to heal your gut, and reactions to newly introduced foods are very obvious and easy to correlate.

I have a post called GAPS Resources on the blog linked from my profile with more info and things to read.

My worst symptoms were neurological and getting my blood sugar stabilized seems to have been the thing that helped the most, more than any specific food.

[Bubba's Mom]

I'm glad to see you've found rooibos tea. That popped into my mind as I read your posts. It's hard to cut out SO many things!

Since I've gone gluten-free I've noticed soy giving me neuro issues, so cut that out. I seem to react to the soy oil and lethicin that doesn't bother others.

I've been having GERD and gallbladder type pains off and on lately. Occasionally I get the feeling of being so tired it's like I've been drugged. I get moody. It has me wondering if I have other intollerances, or if it's just part of the healing process? It's been 3 months gluten-free for me.

I really dislike cooking and absolutely hate baking. Giving up soy meant all chocolate and most other candies..bye-bye. Snacks(chips)..a lot of them will name a choice of several oils which may be used, which means I can't take the chance it was soy..so can't have them.

I don't know enough about the healing process to help give you answers to the issue of whether or not the symptoms you're having are just part of healing..or truly another food issue. I just wanted to say...I know how hard it is to try to do all of this dectective work, keeping logs, and doing without so many foods and you still don't feel good!

I've gotten to the point that I have little or no appetite, and just don't even care to try to eat. I hope you get some answers and get to feeling better soon. I understand the battle you're fighting right now.

(((hugs)))

[Strawberry-Jam]

I've gotten to the point that I have little or no appetite, and just don't even care to try to eat. I hope you get some answers and get to feeling better soon. I understand the battle you're fighting right now.

(((hugs)))

We are in the same boat!

I've been gluten free over six months, myself. Going on nine or ten. The best way to handle giving up foods, probably, is to disassociate with all foods for the time being--form no attachments to anything, whether it be candy or fruit or a particular spice. Treat food like a machine would treat oil: it is necessary, and you will use as much as you need when you need it, but you won't depend upon it for pleasure or your emotional well-being.

Then, once you've discovered the foods that you CAN eat and your gut is healed and you are feeling better and so on, you can start to take pleasure in eating again.

At least, that is what I am going through. I don't really enjoy food anymore and the last few foods I do enjoy I am trying to wean myself from.

[Bubba's Mom]

It's a real shame there isn't a better way to narrow down what the problem is?

Going to the grocery store is super depressing me. Being surrounded by foods we can't have. Reading magazines and clipping coupons is sad too. I'm faced with pics of tempting food. AND watching tv is hard in the evening. It seems like every other commercial is for some kind of forbidden food.

My hubby lives to eat...I eat to live.