Need Help With Rotation Diet And Exotic Grains.

[Apache]

I'll start with my question about exotic grains. I can't handle quinoa, white rice, or brown rice. They all cause stomach and other sensitivity reactions. I want to try amaranth and buckwheat, but are these any easier on the gut than the afore mentioned three?

Secondly, lately I have been becoming intolerant to anything I eat for more than a couple of meals in a row. I'm now having problems with beef and chicken, and after a few meals of ham, it seems pork is causing a problem. It has been suggested to me that I go on a rotation diet which consists of many "exotic" foods. The exotic and uncommon meats are easy, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what starches to eat.

The familiar starches I can handle are: sweet potatoes, canned(only) english peas, some beans, and possibly yams. I'm thinking about trying beets, water chestnuts, and possibly turnips.

Familiar starches I can't handle are: white potatoes, all rice, corn, quinoa, carrots, wheat, and squash.

I need help figuring out what other starches are out there that I can try. I've looked into tapioca, amaranth, and buckwheat. I can't tolerate bananas, so I think plantains are off the list.

Other things I can't tolerate are: all fresh or frozen vegetables(canned seem to be okay, except for carrots). All fruits, nuts, nut milk, lentils, garbonzo beans, ceyenne pepper, lemons, coconut in any form, olive oil, flaxseed oil, and any form of herb, vitamin, probiotic, mineral, or any other supplement.

A medication I was taking left my system very sensitive, thus all the intolerances. Not to mention I had undiagnosed wheat, dairy, and egg sensitivities for years.

Thank you.

[domesticactivist]

It sounds like you may benefit from a diet like GAPS. It is aimed at restoring gut health and healing leaky guts. This is the diet my family has been on since February.

I have a whole series of posts on this diet on the blog linked from my profile as well as links to the book, etc. The diet completely eliminates all but monosacharide sugars, resulting in a mostly starch-free diet at least at first. Starches are difficult to digest and you obviously have problems with them, so why not just cut them out?

Rotation diets are good when your gut is very leaky. You can do GAPS as a rotation diet as well by making sure that you keep the ingredients in your soup very simple, and then rotate them. As you heal, the rotation should become less of a necessity.

[Apache]

It sounds like you may benefit from a diet like GAPS. It is aimed at restoring gut health and healing leaky guts. This is the diet my family has been on since February.

I have a whole series of posts on this diet on the blog linked from my profile as well as links to the book, etc. The diet completely eliminates all but monosacharide sugars, resulting in a mostly starch-free diet at least at first. Starches are difficult to digest and you obviously have problems with them, so why not just cut them out?

Rotation diets are good when your gut is very leaky. You can do GAPS as a rotation diet as well by making sure that you keep the ingredients in your soup very simple, and then rotate them. As you heal, the rotation should become less of a necessity.

The biggest problem I have with the GAPS diet is that my system is very sensitivie to bone stock and vegetables. I am currently going through protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal and it has caused a lot of problems in my nervous system and digestive system. It seems that foods with the highest nutrient levels give me the most problems. Apparently my body has a hard time processing these high amounts of vitamins and minerals.

[RiceGuy]

Here's an article which I find very interesting, and I think it relates to what you're experiencing:

Open Original Shared Link

Have you tried powdered supplements? I do believe you need to get your digestive system functioning properly before those intolerances can resolve. Some say that a prebiotic (different than a probiotic) such as inulin can help restore intestinal flora.

Incidentally, coconut oil has a fair amount of caprylic acid, which is very effective at inhibiting unfriendly bacteria in the gut. So I wonder if this is what happens when you consume coconut. That is, perhaps the ill feeling you experience is a die-off of unfriendly bacteria, which is known to have undesirable side-effects if done too quickly.

The starch in sweet potatoes is said to digest more slowly than that of white potatoes, so I wonder if that's why you're able to eat those without ill effects.

I've found breads made from various grains, beans, and so forth to be easier to digest than the whole grains, beans and other things from which the flours are made. One flour in particular which may interest you is sweet potato flour, which works nicely in all sorts of things, including as a thickener in soups, stews, and so forth. It is made from a white variety of sweet potato, so it is white, not red/orange. You can find this and other flours Open Original Shared Link. Another which you may be able to use is yellow pea flour, available from the same company.

[Apache]

Here's an article which I find very interesting, and I think it relates to what you're experiencing:

Open Original Shared Link

Have you tried powdered supplements? I do believe you need to get your digestive system functioning properly before those intolerances can resolve. Some say that a prebiotic (different than a probiotic) such as inulin can help restore intestinal flora.

Incidentally, coconut oil has a fair amount of caprylic acid, which is very effective at inhibiting unfriendly bacteria in the gut. So I wonder if this is what happens when you consume coconut. That is, perhaps the ill feeling you experience is a die-off of unfriendly bacteria, which is known to have undesirable side-effects if done too quickly.

The starch in sweet potatoes is said to digest more slowly than that of white potatoes, so I wonder if that's why you're able to eat those without ill effects.

I've found breads made from various grains, beans, and so forth to be easier to digest than the whole grains, beans and other things from which the flours are made. One flour in particular which may interest you is sweet potato flour, which works nicely in all sorts of things, including as a thickener in soups, stews, and so forth. It is made from a white variety of sweet potato, so it is white, not red/orange. You can find this and other flours Open Original Shared Link. Another which you may be able to use is yellow pea flour, available from the same company.

Thanks. That was an interesting article. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that I will be able stabilize my gut until the benzo withdrawal has run its course. I can't tolerate any supplements at all. The reaction I have to supplements, coconut oil, and other foods is actually an increase in benzo withdrawal symptoms(this is actually typical of benzo withdrawal). This is compounded by the fact that I have leaky gut syndrome, which I have actually had for years, but never made the effort to correct it. Now I have a pretty good idea of how to correct it, but it looks like I will have to wait until I have healed from the benzodiazepines. I'm struggling right now to find things to eat. Between leaky gut and withdrawal my system is extremely sensitive to many things, and I have gotten to the point that I'm having to rotate what I eat so I don't become intolerant to it.

[RiceGuy]

Just in case you haven't already found out, leaky gut is often accompanied by a candida overgrowth. In fact, candida can cause leaky gut too. Hopefully the diet you're able to maintain won't promote unfriendly microbes. About all I have to add is to avoid sugars as much as you can, but it sounds like you may already be doing that due to the other restrictions anyway.

Hope you feel better soon!