Diet for gluten-tolerant, histamine--intolerant

The father of Medicine, Hippocrates, said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” This discussion contains information found by some members to be helpful for controlling the symptoms of microscopic colitis, by diet alone, or in conjunction with certain medications.

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wnorm
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Diet for gluten-tolerant, histamine--intolerant

Post by wnorm »

I am a 60 year old woman with collagenous colitis. I was on Pentasa and just switched to Entocort. I tolerate gluten, but not histamine.I have allergies to many fresh and cooked fruits and vegetables; and nuts and seeds, etc. I need a good diet plan. Any ideas would be appreciated.
allergic to :nuts, all seeds, tomatoes, eggplant, all pepper, nutmeg, most raw fruit, many cooked fruits, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi,

Here are lists of foods to avoid, if you need to avoid histamines:

http://www.michiganallergy.com/food_and_histamine.shtml

And here is more extensive information on a histamine-restricted diet, by the International Chronic Urticaria Society:

http://www.urticaria.thunderworksinc.co ... tamine.htm

I hope this is helpful.

Tex
:cowboy:

It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
wnorm
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Information on diet

Post by wnorm »

Thank-you for the information. I went on an elimination diet in September and October. However, I found it difficult to maintain without compromising my health. I've significantly reducedt those foods that are the highest in histamines or triggers for histamine release:egg whites, canned foods, pickled or fermented food, chocolate, cheese etc. However when I avoid those foods that make my collagenous colitis worse, foods that I am allergic to and/intolerant of, I'm not left with much variety.Most recipes tend to be gluten-free or include nuts etc. I know that Everyone has specific needs ;however if anyone has any grat recipes or meal lans I would greatly appreciate it.I'm sending this reply from my Kindle keyboard, and it's quite a labourious process.
allergic to :nuts, all seeds, tomatoes, eggplant, all pepper, nutmeg, most raw fruit, many cooked fruits, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
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tex
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Post by tex »

We have several members who are on extremely restrictive diets, but they don't always log in every day. Hopefully, some of them will see your post and respond. If you don't receive any responses in a day or two, you might try posting your question on the main message board, where more members are likely to read it.

Actually, we've had a number of members who are not sensitive to gluten, but I don't believe we've ever had another member who was sensitive to histamines, but not sensitive to gluten. Have you had the EnteroLab stool test to verify that you are not sensitive to gluten? Before I cut gluten out of my diet, it seemed that everything except gluten was making me sick. Gluten never gave me any reason to suspect it. After I cut it out of my diet, though, I finally began to do better.

Tex
:cowboy:

It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
wnorm
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Gluten tolerant and Histamine intolerant

Post by wnorm »

Thanks for your helpful suggestions. I have the special blood tests for gluten intoleranceThey were negative.When my gastroenterologist did a biopsy last year, he didn't see any evidence of gluten problems.
Wheat doesn't seem to bother me a lot. I make all my own bread etc. Whole wheat really makes me feel ill. I used regular unbleached flour.
I was on a 2 month elimination diet and felt like fainting almost every day. I have to pick my poison. Even minimal amounts of cooked mushy fruits and vegetables can bother me. Of course I do have some good days. I feel best on a rice-based diet. However, now Health Canada advises that we should only eat about 2-3 servings of rice per week to minimize arsenic exposure. I spoke to the research scientist on the phone. Oh well! I have to eat something until they can invent a 6th food group......
allergic to :nuts, all seeds, tomatoes, eggplant, all pepper, nutmeg, most raw fruit, many cooked fruits, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
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tex
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Post by tex »

wnorm wrote:Thanks for your helpful suggestions. I have the special blood tests for gluten intoleranceThey were negative.When my gastroenterologist did a biopsy last year, he didn't see any evidence of gluten problems.
FYI, the classic celiac blood tests that your doctor performed will only detect fully developed celiac disease. They won't even detect 90% of celiac cases. The disease has to be mature, with massive intestinal damage, before those tests will show a positive result, and your biopsy results showed that you do not have sufficient damage to trigger a positive blood test result. The results of those tests are always negative for the type of gluten sensitivity (non-celiac) that most of us have, and yet we are just as sensitive to gluten (on the average) as the average celiac.

I'm not trying to say that you are absolutely gluten-sensitive, because anything is possible, but your case would be extremely rare, if you are not sensitive to gluten. Most of us have the same problem with fruits and vegetables that you are having, until our intestines heal.

Your doctor cannot diagnose non-celiac gluten sensitivity (because mainstream medicine is not aware of EnteroLab's stool testing for IgA antibodies, to detect anti-gliadin antibodies where they are produced, in the intestines, and without stool testing, the doctors have no way to diagnose non-celiac gluten sensitivity). So all they can do is claim that you are not gluten sensitive (whether you are or not). And he probably believes that diet has nothing to do with microscopic colitis. Anyone on this discussion board can tell you from experience that he is wrong.

If you will look at the Consumer Reports story at the link that I listed below, you will see that the safest rice comes from India, these days. It has the lowest arsenic content. You have to scroll down the page to get to the test results, but as you can see there, the two test samples from India showed much lower arsenic levels than those from any other source.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/maga ... /index.htm

Tex
:cowboy:

It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
wnorm
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Diet etc

Post by wnorm »

Thanks for the great suggestions. I live in Canada.Can I send stool samples to the US?What is the cost?Are there labs in Canada that do testing?I read the Consumers report on arsenic. The Indian levels may be better. However, how about other contaminants.Their quality control is not great.I studied toxicology in university and did graduate research in heavy metal toxicity. I studied contaminants in agricultural runoff and the effects on aquatic invertebrates. ad nauseum. Bottom line I prefer to eat local or organic if Ican. However even organic rice is high in heavy metals.
allergic to :nuts, all seeds, tomatoes, eggplant, all pepper, nutmeg, most raw fruit, many cooked fruits, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
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Post by tex »

Enterolab uses a patented process, and no other lab in the world is licensed to do these tests, so the only place where they can be ordered is in Dallas Texas. The reason why they don't license other labs is because tests of this type are only as accurate and reliable as the person doing the tests, so one individual (who holds a PhD in chemistry) does all the tests at EnteroLab, in order to guarantee accuracy and repeatability.

Yes, samples can be sent from most parts of the world. We have members in places such as Spain and Hong Kong who have sent them samples for analysis. When you order a test (or a series of tests), they send you a kit with instructions, so that you can collect a sample and send it back to them by overnight delivery. Here's some information on the tests:

https://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/TestInfo.aspx

FYI, I'm a farmer. Here's why I don't seek out organic produce for my own table:

Soil used to produce organic plants, by definition, can only be fertilized with "natural" fertilizers, meaning manure. Commercial fertilizers are verboten, which seems odd to me, because commercial fertilizers are made from natural ingredients such as phosphate rock, potash, and nitrogen. What could be more natural than that? I'll take food produced with commercial fertilizer any day, over the organic stuff.

But I digress. The point is, most organic farms use anywhere from a little to a lot of poultry manure, and arsenic has been an ingredient of choice in chicken feed for decades, because it helps to control a common bug that infects chickens, it increases rates of gain, and it also gives chicken flesh a pink hue, which the industry thinks consumers want. The arsenic doesn't hurt the chickens — it goes through 'em and ends up in the manure. And when the manure is spread on the land, the arsenic is taken up by plants (especially rice, since rice grows in water), and it ends up in organic produce.

Manure from cattle or hog feedlots has it's own baggage, of course, and it's own spectrum of heavy metals, so it may be an even worse choice. At any rate, that's why I prefer food grown with commercial fertilizers, rather than food grown with recycled toxins.

I don't mean to imply that I don't eat any organic foods. I do sometimes eat them — I just don't seek them out, because I don't consider them to be particularly healthy. And tests show that organic foods are no more nutritious than conventionally-grown foods.

Tex
:cowboy:

It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
wnorm
Little Blue Penguin
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diet

Post by wnorm »

Very good points. Thank-you. You're a big help.
allergic to :nuts, all seeds, tomatoes, eggplant, all pepper, nutmeg, most raw fruit, many cooked fruits, peanuts, chestnuts, etc.
Dreambeanie
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Post by Dreambeanie »

Hi wnorm,
I am in a very similar situation to you, my food sensitivities are much the same, I tolerate gluten but not foods high in histamine and dairy.
I gave up looking for a diet plan etc and just avoid foods high in histamine and dairy. After being lactose intolerant for 30 years, I now find that total avoidance of dairy is better as the casein etc can be a trigger.
Most of the time I am fairly well now.
After reading tex,s book I tried taking anti histamines and it's amazing how well I was on those days, I'm not sure if a person should take them regularly tho. In Canada Also.
Good luck
Dreambeanie
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Post by Dreambeanie »

I now have to take proton pump inhibitors for reflux symptoms, will this affect my MC?
Thanks for any comments
Dreambeanie
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:44 pm

Post by Dreambeanie »

wnorm
i realize I left out of my last reply, how i got to feel better.
my elimination diet , however nutritionally deficient, did seem to promote healing, hopefully yours did too.
i can now eat, small amounts of frozen blueberries and bananas, no other fruit.
vegatables , frozen, well cooked peas green beans , carrots, potatoes, squash, stir fry veggies but avoid the corn, and mushrooms and beets.
but totally avoiding dairy was important for me, which waas a surprise, the only cheeses i can eat are hard cheeses like cheddar. even icing on a cake does me in.
the book shown on this website was a godsend to me, verifying for me that foods are the problem!
it is still had to eat out, as tomato and milk are in most sauces and soups, so am still frustrated about that, however am ok most days.
i hope your progress is good also
hang in there, you can get much better, im sure
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