Need Input that I'm not going to get from Dr.

Post by **tex** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:26 pm

Erica,

Hopefully, inhaled flour dust may not be a problem for you. I used to own and operate a seed cleaning facility, and wheat dust in the air didn't seem to bother me. However, bear in mind that anytime flour is used in a kitchen, tiny particles of wheat flour will float in the air for hours, coating anything and everything as it settles. We carry some of that flour dust-laden air with us through doors, etc., until surfaces almost everywhere in the entire building may eventually be contaminated at various levels unless they are cleaned regularly.

Therefore, be sure to wash your hands or have wipes handy for cleaning your hands anytime you are preparing or eating food. Be careful where you lay your food, because countertops tend to be contaminated whenever flour is in the air in adjoining rooms. The miniscule amounts picked up in any individual meal may not be enough to trigger a reaction, but the cumulative effect can be a problem if it happens regularly. And of course our risk also depends on our personal level of sensitivity to gluten.

Yes, we have to change the way we perceive food and it's role in our life. Where it was once primarily a source of pleasure, it is now more of a means of survival. And we have to watch it like a hawk, lest it become our adversary. The days of wine and roses are, if not gone forever, at least put on temporary hold.

Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:38 pm

Erica,
Have faith...
Eating can be creative and fun in MC world...

Pre MC I used to do cake decorating and have Italian girlfriends where we would spend the whole day making home made pasta!,

Once some healing has happened, food prep and meals can be loads of fun.
I had fun making twice cooked duck and teaching myself how to cook other game meats...
I have adjusted quite a few biscuit/cake recipes to be gabe safe... And pride myself on making yummy cakes and deserts that no-one realises are gluten/dairy/soy free...
The other week I made home made caramel - gabe safe.

That is part of the mental /emotional side,,, find the joy in what is....
For now, walk for a bit, get steady on you feet before you try to run.

In line with Tex's response, if you minimise triggers at home etc and at work wash your hands etc, the work environment is very manageable etc.
That's part of the MC management plan, we can't avoid every trigger, but we can manage our contact with them....

There is a saying .... life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
Make a few changes adjustments that become routine and you don't have to think about it...

Post by **tex** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:05 pm

Gabes wrote:There is a saying .... life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

That pretty well sums up how to deal with MC as we integrate it into our life.

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Since I work better with a visual, I created what I feel is a doable beginning to my food regimen....I color coded my substitutes and eliminates in my excel version. I don't imagine I will need to give this rotation a whole lot of time to tell if things are working or not once this Antibiotic is out of my system so I know what I'm dealing with. I feel I ought to have a better understanding of things by the end of June and just how my diet will start looking. I have to eventually hit a happy medium some time in all this, right. Along with an attitude adjustment and some meditation, I am going to manage this. I'm only listing this in this way because I feel it works for me at this time, it's going to change that's a given, but if someone else like me is out there and is/was just as unsure where to begin this might be a good beginner point for whoever too.

Tomorrow is a new day, and a new perspective it shall be too :-)

Food columns to start out with rotating on daily basis:
Day 1) Deli Turkey, Steam Rice, Pork Bacon, Bone Soup, Coconut Milk, Water, Rice Pancake
Day 2) Turkey Burger, Jasmine Rice, Creamed Corn, Bone Soup, Coconut Milk, Water, Rice Cereal
Day 3) Turkey Bacon, Steam Rice, Pears, Bone Soup, Coconut Milk, Water, Rice Pancake
Day 4) Chicken, Cashew/Rice, Fritos, Bone Soup, Coconut Milk, Water, Rice Cereal

If food doesn't set right substitute this:
Day 1 - Rice Cereal for pancake
Day 2 - Steam Carrot for cream corn
Day 3 - Rice Cereal for pancake
Day 4 - Crab, Cod or Deli Turkey for chicken, and Steam Carrot for cashew or fritos

If food is still not agreeing eliminate these:
Pork Bacon,
Cream Corn, Steam Carrot,
Chicken, Cashew, Steam Carrot, Fritos

If still not seeing better results also eliminate this:
Rice Pancake

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 8:35 pm

My sinusitis got the best of me today, felt great yesterday so used that energy to clean house...big mistake, my body isn't ready to fight an infection and expend any extra energy. Today I had chills, WD practically all day an had to take a nap mid day. This evening the chills are gone, I have been able to eat and I think I will be able to sleep tonight.

Boy when the body revolts it does it in the most flamboyant way! I thought I was coming down with a new illness the way I felt today. I must be in for a few more days of wait an see due to the penicillin this week. I even took Friday off hoping for a nice relaxing three days off. Here's to a better day Sunday.

Erica

Post by **tex** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 9:47 pm

Hi Erica,

That's a heck of a note, but surely you will feel much better tomorrow.

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 10:58 am

Doing better this morning, sinus infections sure do take a lot out of a person. It seems a person has to waste their whole weekend just to catch up enough to go back to work on Monday, funny how that works out, Murphy Law I suppose.

When I talk I still sound like I'm in a hole, lol. The WD has slowed way down, thankful for that as that wears a person out. Sure seems to take longer to heal from this years allergy cold season, an doubly so if you get a bacterial issue on top of it. WHEW!

I'm going to be optimistic an know that next week will be better, it has to be

E

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 11:54 am

Hi Erica,

Your plan looks good! I think your thread is helping out a lot of newbies/lurkers who are too sick to post.

A couple of comments on your food plan. When you get the deli turkey make sure it is GF. I'm not sure if Boars Head is sold in WA but if so all of their products are GF. Deli meats commonly contain gluten as it is a cheap filler. The cream corn may be questionable. Some folks are ok with corn others are not. The good news is you will know when you test it. There may be a safer corn chip than fritos (a lot of ingredients.) If you can find tortilla chips that are just corn, fat, salt and water and says GF you may do better than with the fritos brand. A lot of folks seem to eat the Mexican tortilla chips early on.

I saw your questions about how to jazz up your food regimen. Use salt and pepper. Cook meats/poultry with bone in/skin on whenever possible for maximum flavor. Grill. Drizzle EVOO on your cod/poultry/rice etc. Put flowers on your table. Tell yourself this is so you can heal. I'm eating a much broader diet now but clearly the few foods regimen really helped early on.

You are on the right track!

Brandy

Post by **tex** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:29 pm

Actually, according to the label, Fritos only contain corn, corn oil, and salt. However, the problem I had with the product when I was recovering was the fact that they were so greasy. As Brandy pointed out, I did better with tortilla chips, because tortilla chips appear to contain less oil. These days, I can handle the extra oil without any problems.

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 12:46 pm

Thanks Brandy,
I feel I'm the middle of the road MCer with all the test outcomes I've had. I don't have multiple body issues, just only what comes with classic MC/LC. This is kinda turning into a type of blog, but it helps for me to express this an that an to get bits of comments from a wide range of thoughts.

I may just change the corn chip to the tortilla corn chip as my test. My plan outlay is delayed until I get passed this darn sinus infection.

I found a Hormel Natural Choice that seems to be gluten free, it says there is water, salt, potato starch, turbinado sugar, rice starch, carrageenan from seaweed, baking soda, celery powder an cherry powder. Seems like a few unnecessary things in there, but no gluten. Also no hormones or nitrates.

When I get to start this meager rotate diet I'm sure I'll be able to tweak it easy. It was hard figuring out how to get to this point with things that are mostly safe for me to eat. That's the big trick to all this MC stuff besides removing as much stress as possible. Can't live in a bubble, but I bet I'd heal faster!

Tex,
Thanks for the kind uplifting words, they help all the time.

E

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:33 pm

Hi Erica,

The hormel natural choice sounds like a good thing to test. I don't eat a lot of deli meat but I think every MCer needs a local deli meat that they can tolerate. In a pinch if I'm randomly driving around FL I know I can pick up some boars head turkey and make turkey rollups if I'm hungry.

Brandy

Chemgirl · Post by **Chemgirl** » Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:06 am

I'm not so sure about the Hormel chips. There is some controversy about carrageenan (and emulsifiers in general) causing GI symptoms in susceptible individuals.

It's near impossible to avoid them entirely if you eat processed food, but it might be a good idea to avoid until you have had more time to heal.

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 12:07 pm

I have a question...

I have not been taking any vitamin supplements except D3 and K2, no probiotics, and have decided I need to wait a bit more on introducing corn stuff into my diet yet. I only take Allegra for now.

So with that said, I have been GF, DF, SF, EG and any other food sensitive that I may have FREE for 3 months now. I have gone from a 7 on the Bristol scale and hover between 5 and 6 a lot now. I take that as healing, so is this the area of mystery as to how long I will be in this phase, and it can take any where from now up to 2 years to heal?

I want to be realistic with myself and need to know what is a fairly normal clue as to when I can introduce a new food and start that process. Quite honestly I don't have any urges or cravings, like I did 3 months ago. What food(s) are good to begin with if I can at this time?

Thanks
Erica

Post by **tex** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 2:39 pm

Hi Erica,

We are all different of course, but it seems to take somewhere in the neighborhood of about 6 months for many of us to resolve most of our GI symptoms. Some respond sooner than that, while some take up to a year. But your GI symptoms should resolve long before your intestines actually heal. Many are able to introduce relatively low risk foods soon after their GI symptoms are mostly gone, but it took me a year and a half after reaching GI remission before I was able to actually add any foods into my diet without reacting to them.

The only absolutely sure rule about recovery times is that there are no absolute rules. You can see that in the wide spread in the results on the "How long did it take to get your life back" poll. For most of us, the safest foods to try first are typically non-citrus vegetables and fruits that aren't loaded with fiber and sugar.

Hopefully someone else will have some better, more specific suggestions for foods to try, but usually the choices need to be tailored for individual needs and/or sensitivities.

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:03 pm

Thank you Tex,

Does that 6 mo measure come from the fact that it may take that long for Gluten to leave the system?

Ok, so then I am in a limbo it sounds like. Waiting for a sign from my gut to say it is ready for me to introduce something, I'm not sure I will know what I'm looking for.

I know I will have touch an go symptoms based on basic stress, anxiety etc.. I know I will just need to deal with those as they arise, hopefully as time goes by my gut wont react so strongly to that surge of adrenaline due to those emotions. What will be even better is when my gut doesn't react to me wanting to use a bit of energy to clean house, or ride my bicycle, or or or!!! LOL

The extra external magnesium (spray oil and Epsom soaks) is doing its trick, I am not taking anything internally at the moment, the breathing is better, and the body is more calm lately.

I have to say one thing....when my mind was but a whirl wind everyone here at this forum helped to keep me thinking level headed. I am so thankful I did not push the medication with my Dr. even though I wanted to and was so saddened by the fact that he really didn't want me take anything at that time. I honestly feel I will heal faster being in the now with my body thru all this, and not masked by a chemical. Which I can see it may be a necessary evil to anyone that can't get the DH to clear up within reason, or who may not be able to afford getting Enterolab results so they can grasp what it is they need to do to begin healing immediately.

Cheers
Erica