corinne

I ran a 5K race yesterday and it went well. I've stuck to a very strict diet all winter to get my symptoms under control - no grains or starches, no dairy, no soy etc. I also did intervals on the track once a week all winter.

I improved my time from last year by 1 minute and I came 4th in my division (it was a small race - only about 20-25 women in my age group). WOOHOO! It's nice to see things payoff.

I can't tolerate any grains including rice, starches such as potatoes or even concentrated sugars such as honey. For carbs I eat carrots, beets, bananas and apricots. My diet is fairly high in protein, mostly chicken and fish.

The sudden pain, diarrhea vomiting makes me wonder if you picked up a GI virus. Vomiting is very common with a virus. Even though a viral illness starts suddenly, it can linger and it may take over a month for your system to recover especially if you have celiac. You may experience lingering fatigue.

It's claimed that sugar can be added without listing it on the ingredients label. Personally, I don't believe it (at least in the US) and I do eat canned carrots and beets with no ill effect.

I've been on the SCD for 1.5 years (minus dairy, nuts and beans) and it has helped me tremendously. I now have D 1-2 days per month instead of up to 8 times per night. As mentioned the pecanbread website is very useful and the book explains the theory behind the diet. The recipes in the book are aweful, but there are several other SCD cookbooks and recipes online that are pretty good.

PM me if you have questions.

You can always break down the coin of life into smaller change and spend it doing lots of things you enjoy.

Tarnalberry - thanks for your comments. I teach analytical chemistry and I have sophomore chemistry students come to me and say there is no X in their sample. There could be X in their sample, but the amount may be below what we can detect with our method. Even a lot of college chemistry students don't seem to grasp this concept.

There is no such thing as 100% gluten free unless you check every single molecule in a sample and that can't be done anywhere by any method and then you can only say that particular sample was gluten free. Instead, the companies report that the amount of gluten is less than the amount the method can detect. We have to decide if that amount is harmful.

Of course, there is the other issue of enforcement of regulations and that is a personal judgement call about the companies.

That could be. I eat about 3 pieces of fruit a day. Right now, I eat (by % calories) about 15-20% carbs, 50% fat and 30-35% protein. The difference in my health after starting the diet was such a big change that I may not have noticed the discomfort compared to the improvement.

It depends your body, on where you live, on your school/work schedules, on significant other schedules etc.

I'm fortunate to have a flexible work schedule. When I lived in Montana, I would run in the early afternoon in the winter after it had warmed up a bit to minimize frostbite. I now live in California and it can be over 110 F in the summer so I run late evening or if I have to early morning. I'm not a morning person and it takes a while for my body to get moving so I try to avoid running in the morning so I have less chances of getting injured.

I'm not sure why, but when I started the paleo diet, I had no discomfort. My running speed improved a lot (from a 9 minute mile to a 7.5 minute in 6 months) and my sprinting (100 yard intervals) has improved by 20%. My endurance hasn't changed; it's still about 5 hours to walk 20 miles. I haven't tried to find out if my endurance limit has changed; that is painful. Because I had so much D before I started the diet, and none, most of the time now, the differences are probably because I'm absorbing a lot more nutrients which could counter the effects of switching my primary fuel.

This might not be what you're looking for, but I can't eat any grains at all. For pancakes, I put 2 ripe bananas in the blender with 2 eggs then pour into a hot oiled pan. I cook the batter slowly over low heat until solid enough to turn. It takes a bit of practice to get the cooking down, but they taste good.

Wow! That's great progress for any group of kids that age and especially when you took over the class and it isn't your regular assignment. Enjoy the concert!

Please DON'T send me the snow. I moved from Calgary to California for a reason. I enjoy skiing on it, but I don't like shoveling it, digging my car out of it and falling in it on the way to work.

No such thing as a stupid question.

Can you buy farmer's cheese where you are? That can be substituted for the DCCC. Otherwise, I used 1/2 cup homemade yoghurt and 2 cups drained homemade yoghurt. That gave it a creamier texture.

I quickly found out though, that I can't tolerate even small amounts of dairy. Try the pecanbread website for ideas in which order to introduce foods. Nuts, beans, raw fruits+veggies and dairy are things you may want to leave out for 3-6 months. I started with chicken+carrot soup and then added one food every 4-7 days.

I'm not surprised I got sick at my friend's house. She apparently stuffed the turkey with bread dressing and she said that she had cut off a piece of the breast meat for me before she unstuffed the turkey, but I probably got some of the dressing.

As mentioned, a number of us here eat just veggies, possibly fruit and various sources of protein. The paleo diet is one version of this, the specific carbohydrate diet is another. There have been a number of threads on both diets which you can find on the site search. This kind of diet has helped me when just gluten free didn't work.

By the way, even veggies and legumes contain some simple carbs (fructose, glucose).

Latex allergies are quite common. If you wear gloves often, you can become sensitized to latex. We don't even use latex gloves anymore in the undergrad chem labs where I work because of the number of students with problems.

The gas prices sort of make me feel better. Between the town where I work and the town where I live, there's a 2000 foot difference in elevation. This elevation is gained in just 5 miles and this is one of the steepest sections of Highway 101. I drive a small car and I usually try to start up that hill at least at 75 miles an hour so that I'm still going 50 miles an hour at the top. On busy days, when I can't get a run at the hill, there's a line of traffic behind me. When I bought the car, I wanted good gas mileage and it was before I moved to this area with the big hills. I get 35 mpg even in the city and it's not a hybrid. Putt, putt, putt. I'll get there eventually and with a few $$ leftover.

I hate to post because everytime I post that things are going well, I get sick again. However, as of tonight, I have had D only once in 4 weeks and that was when I ate at a friend's house. I'm now eating cooked apricots, raw bananas+avocado, chicken, fish (even smoked salmon was ok yay!), and very well-cooked spinach, green beans and carrots. Soon (I hope) I'll be able to eat 10 foods.

Transglutaminase is NOT gluten or any byproduct of gluten. It is an enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of the amino acid glutamine (again NOT related to gluten) with free amino acids. It is a safe ingredient.

I can't wait until I'm old (I'm 36 now) so that I can finally keep up hiking and mountaineering. I run regularly, but all the 60 and 70 year olds who are retired and have time to be in the mountains 4-5 days a week leave me in the dust after 20 miles.

I'm originally Canadian (grew up in Calgary and went to school in Vancouver), but now live in California. I'm pretty much bilingual, but it's mostly from living in France for two years. The 12 years of French in school didn't do much good. I couldn't understand anyone when I moved to France or even read much, but I suppose I picked up the language faster than if I had never heard it.

It does sound like something else besides celiac (microscopic colitis often hits older women and can lead to water D even when not eating or possibly another type of colitis). Hopefully, you can get the doctors to listen that she has been active and has stuck to her diet and that they need to find the source of this problem.

I have collagenous colitis, but I do not have celiac disease. My villi are normal, but there is inflammation. Collagenous and lymphocytic colitis are both types of microscopic colitis. There is a strong correlation between microscopic colitis and celiac disease. Many people with microscopic colitis have a first degree relative with celiac disease and carry the celiac genes. Sometimes those with celiac disease can also develop microscopic colitis.

Often, those with microscopic colitis will improve with a gluten free diet even though they test negative for celiac disease. Similarly they may not be able digest dairy even when a test for lactose intolerance is negative. It may also be worthwhile to try the specific carbohydrate diet (no grains at all, among other things).

Although changes in diet often help or even completely eliminate symptoms of microscopic colitis, they may not be enough. Peptobismol, imodium or lomotil or other antidiarheals are the first line of treatment. If these don't work asacol or failing this steroids (entocort etc.) can bring relief. I would try diet first. I eat a very simple diet - chicken, fish, well-cooked easy to digest veggies ie carrots+green beans, bananas, avocados and I am mostly symptom free. I take imodium or lomotil for the occasional flare.

If you have questions, feel free to PM me. There are also some boards for microscopic colitis.

I'm a chemistry professor. Yes I do enjoy blowing things up.

There always seems to be a disproportionate number of science types in forums. I guess many of us science types hang out more than average on the computer.

I don't eat any grains. For breakfast, I usually have fish and a couple of bananas (sounds like a strange combo, but it's good). I also eat lots of avocados to keep the weight up.