My Plan
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
My Plan
I find that if I say something out loud (or in this case write it down publicly) it is easier to follow through, so here goes. My Enterolab tests revealed numerous sensitivities, the big four, gluten, dairy, soy and eggs plus chicken, rice, oats, corn, tuna, beef to a lesser extent (no wonder going paleo helped me years ago, wish I hadn't decided a little non-paleo dairy was ok, and the occasional cracker or roll) with pork my least reactive meat. Almonds and walnuts also were in the least reactive category along with pork but I think I react some to almonds. It seems to cause mild oral allergy syndrome which makes sense since I have a birch allergy and almonds are cross reactive. Also when I joined this list and read about mast cell issues, it seemed to me that mast cells probably played a major roll in what was going on, especially since I had recently added a whole slew of high histamine foods to my diet, so I am staying low histamine too. It's not leaving me much to eat but that's ok.
At first I thought I would do an elimination diet but now I think I will do the elimination part but hold off on the adding back part. The foods that seem to agree with me (or at least not make things worse) are pork, lamb, kale, chard, broccoli, coconut oil and coffee (thank goodness). I think I can live on this and plan to stick to it until my system seems settled down. The way I am reasoning is that it will take a long time for my gastrointestinal tract to heal so I want to avoid anything that might increase inflammation. There are probably more foods I could eat but it just seems safer and easier to stick to a few that I am pretty certain are safe until all the noise and gurgling and d to c and back again dance stops. Everything is much less extreme than it was but nowhere near normal so it's discipline, patience, knowledge and support. I'll see how it goes. I entered my foods into Fitday which will then calculate your nutrient amounts so I am adding those nutrients as supplements that seem to be deficient. I was already taking magnesium, D3 and B vitamins but will now add calcium and potassium. The magnesium I take is magnesium glycinate, a lot more expensive than other more common magnesium supplements, but it doesn't cause D which the others seem to do.
And the beat goes on...
Jean
At first I thought I would do an elimination diet but now I think I will do the elimination part but hold off on the adding back part. The foods that seem to agree with me (or at least not make things worse) are pork, lamb, kale, chard, broccoli, coconut oil and coffee (thank goodness). I think I can live on this and plan to stick to it until my system seems settled down. The way I am reasoning is that it will take a long time for my gastrointestinal tract to heal so I want to avoid anything that might increase inflammation. There are probably more foods I could eat but it just seems safer and easier to stick to a few that I am pretty certain are safe until all the noise and gurgling and d to c and back again dance stops. Everything is much less extreme than it was but nowhere near normal so it's discipline, patience, knowledge and support. I'll see how it goes. I entered my foods into Fitday which will then calculate your nutrient amounts so I am adding those nutrients as supplements that seem to be deficient. I was already taking magnesium, D3 and B vitamins but will now add calcium and potassium. The magnesium I take is magnesium glycinate, a lot more expensive than other more common magnesium supplements, but it doesn't cause D which the others seem to do.
And the beat goes on...
Jean
Hiya Jean!
I think your plan is sound, as long as you don't eat the same diet for too long. Mary Beth is quite clear that we have to rotate foods or risk the development of new food sensitivities by eating too much of any one food. In fact, I believe she shared that she had developed new sensitivities when she did her second MRT. This is a major problem (rotation) for those of us with such a limited diet.
When you do start adding back, perhaps you could add a food every 2-3 days instead of every day. And keep in mind that some foods that came up green on MRT may nevertheless be unsafe. For me, it was avocado and raspberries - both "green" but gave me symptoms.
Good luck - it sounds like you have made significant progress with developing a plan to regain your health.
Hugs,
Polly
I think your plan is sound, as long as you don't eat the same diet for too long. Mary Beth is quite clear that we have to rotate foods or risk the development of new food sensitivities by eating too much of any one food. In fact, I believe she shared that she had developed new sensitivities when she did her second MRT. This is a major problem (rotation) for those of us with such a limited diet.
When you do start adding back, perhaps you could add a food every 2-3 days instead of every day. And keep in mind that some foods that came up green on MRT may nevertheless be unsafe. For me, it was avocado and raspberries - both "green" but gave me symptoms.
Good luck - it sounds like you have made significant progress with developing a plan to regain your health.
Hugs,
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
Thanks Polly. I have been wondering about rotation. Seems like a challenge when there is so little to rotate. I haven't done MRT yet. Enterolab testing set me back a bit and I need to replenish my finances first before doing MRT. It felt safe to me to be very restrictive rather than eat a wider variety but I can see it's a you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't situation. At least there's always something to occupy my mind. As Tex said, we are all our own guinea pigs.
Jean
Jean
Jean,
I am eating a similarly restrictive diet and have also analyzed my nutrients to determine where I fall short. I take supplements (multivitamin, calcium, and vitamin D) to meet my minimum daily requirements. It is difficult to get a large enough potassium supplement to meet the MDR, probably because of a risk of overdosing on it. Plus, when I take the supplement I have, I don't feel well. I rely primarily on corn to give me enough potassium. Meat provides some, as do green vegetables. Potatoes, nuts and bananas are good sources. This link provides good information about potassium: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/m ... potassium/
Hopefully, you won't need to eat such a restrictive diet for very long and will be able to add sufficient foods to meet your nutritional needs and allow you to rotate them.
Gloria
I am eating a similarly restrictive diet and have also analyzed my nutrients to determine where I fall short. I take supplements (multivitamin, calcium, and vitamin D) to meet my minimum daily requirements. It is difficult to get a large enough potassium supplement to meet the MDR, probably because of a risk of overdosing on it. Plus, when I take the supplement I have, I don't feel well. I rely primarily on corn to give me enough potassium. Meat provides some, as do green vegetables. Potatoes, nuts and bananas are good sources. This link provides good information about potassium: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/m ... potassium/
Hopefully, you won't need to eat such a restrictive diet for very long and will be able to add sufficient foods to meet your nutritional needs and allow you to rotate them.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Thanks Gloria,
Yes, Potassium is the tough one. It's hard to figure it out. I have some potassium chloride that I mix with sea salt and use a little bit of that food. I am eating swiss chard which is a good source. It's hard to juggle all this. Another good site for info is here: http://www.whfoods.com/ Right now I am taking D, magnesium, b vitamins, and am going to start taking calcium.
Jean
Yes, Potassium is the tough one. It's hard to figure it out. I have some potassium chloride that I mix with sea salt and use a little bit of that food. I am eating swiss chard which is a good source. It's hard to juggle all this. Another good site for info is here: http://www.whfoods.com/ Right now I am taking D, magnesium, b vitamins, and am going to start taking calcium.
Jean
You can find some links about rotation diets on this thread: http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... p?p=119675
Gloria
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.