My EntroLab Tests are In and I feel LUCKY!

[Alchemy1]

Off the table:

gluten (for life)

eggs (one of my highest scores...waaaah),

oats (not surprising as I eat them a LOT) and...

OMG Nooooo!! BEEF! Wow, I wasn't expecting to have to give up beef (and I love a good steak) . I guess I'll have to hit up my hunting friends and get some wild game meat to substitute for beef. Also, is bison a suitable substitute for beef?

I feel lucky because I did not react to casein!!! YaY!! I love milk, and dairy products, so am dancing in the isles about that one. My soy number was 7 so I can probably keep a limited amount of that in my diet, too.

Foods that did not react at all are: corn, rice, chicken, pork, tuna, almond, cashew and white potatoes (which means nightshades should be okay, correct?).

I know I'm a lot luckier than most so am very grateful that I still have a large variety of foods to work with. First to go will be the gluten. That's the biggie and probably will be the hardest.

[Adelaide]

Sounds good Kim. I hope you see an amazing improvement in your health.

[Alchemy1]

Thanks, Linda! I'm so happy that I can still have some of the foods I love...but I was really disappointed about the beef. We have a nice steak dinner every weekend so I'll sure miss that.

First thing to do is to get that darned gluten under control! I'm really surprised at the places I'm finding it. I'm a chemist and I can't even tell you what half of the listed ingredients on food labels are! They're all trade names or patented ingredients or blah, blah, blah! What good is having requirements to list what's in food products if nobody can interpret what the heck those ingredients are?? Thank God for Google, that's all I can say!

Once I get gluten out of my diet I'm sure I'll feel a LOT better! I'm so tired of being in this stupid flare and feeling like the wrath of God most days. I know this is going to be a long journey, but I'm so excited that I'm finally starting it! Here's to better health for BOTH of us in 2016!!!

[tex]

Kim,

Lucky you. Yes you came out far better than most of us. Most of us are sensitive to oats because the avenin protein in oats is very similar to the gluten in wheat. Please be aware that as long as our intestines are inflamed we are unable to produce adequate amounts of certain enzymes needed to digest certain sugars. Lactase is the first enzyme to be lost (and the last to be restored after the gut heals) so we are lactose-intolerant until our gut can heal enough to produce normal amounts of lactase again. IOW, if you choose to use milk products before you recover you may need to use lactose-free versions. After you gut heals you will be good to go with normal milk again.

The aged cheeses contain very little lactose, so you should be able to tolerate them. Soft cheeses though, such as cottage cheese, are loaded with lactose, so those will be off limits until after you heal.

One of the problems with bison is that their numbers became so low during the latter part of the nineteenth century after the government initiated a program to exterminate them in order to starve the plains Indians and force them onto reservations, that many bison wandered into cattle herds and crossbred with domestic cattle. And over the years, bison ranchers have occasionally intentionally crossbred bison with domestic cattle in order to invigorate their genetics (generation after generation of inbreeding will progressively corrupt the genetics of a species until they become so crippled by disease that they become extremely unhealthy). The net result is that virtually every bison living today contains DNA from domestic cattle, implying that anyone sensitive to beef may also be sensitive to bison. There may be a few purebred herds left in Canada, but in this country purebreds are very rare, if they actually exist at all.

But venison and all other wild game is safe for all of us (including farm-raised venison). And have you ever tried pork steak? or chops? or tenderloin?

Your high score on eggs simply means that you have been reacting to them for a long time. There's a possibility that after you heal for a year or so you might be able to eat eggs in baked goods, and maybe even fried, boiled, or scrambled (eventually). In the meantime duck eggs are probably a safe option if you can locate any nearby.

Best of luck on your journey back to health.

Tex

[Erica P-G]

Good Deal Kim!

I love your results too Wish they were mine, I Loved a good steak too!

You ought to start feeling better sooner than later, YAY!

[Alchemy1]

Thanks for the advice about Bison, Tex. Fortunately I have a lot of friends who are hunters and they always end up with too much meat in their freezers. One friend just gave me some elk steaks, roast and sausage. If I'm craving a big plate of red meat, that's what we'll fix. Also, my husband is a great cook and he knows how to cook pork to a T! I'm always overcooking it, because I grew up not eating it, and don't know how to cook it properly. My hubby makes a great pork loin, fabulous grilled steaks and chops as well as a pork roast to die for! I can also supplement with turkey, chicken and fish which are all foods he likes as well.

I'll follow your advice and use lactose free milk until I get better. I still have MC symptoms including the infamous BLOAT! Didn't you say that sugar can contribute to that? I live in the "Border Land" and just recently got hooked on those darned Mexican Cokes! They're made with sucrose instead of high fructose corn syrup and have a completely different taste (which is so YUMMY). How I got started on that nonsense I'll never know, because I've NEVER drunk soda in the past. I think I should probably break that habit quick, fast and in a hurry because it seems to make my symptoms worse.

As for eggs, we have a farmers market here every week. I'll see if I can find some duck eggs for sale the next time I go. I will also stay away from soft cheeses until I'm healed.

I do feel blessed because it could have been a LOT worse! I am lucky and so grateful I found this site and EnteroLab!

[Alchemy1]

Thanks for cheering me on, Erica! I was really expecting to have a lot more forbidden foods and wish your list was as short as mine, too! When the results came in I was so relieved...except for the steak thing. Oh well. I'll eat wild game meat instead of beef.

If I keep gluten free, and avoid eggs, oats, dairy and beef I should start to heal fairly rapidly. That's so exciting for me!!! I can't wait for the day when I can wear jeans to work without worrying that they'll be cutting my bloated tummy in half by the end of the day. I also can't wait to get back to doing the things I love without worrying about having a colitis attack when I least expect it. It's about time to start mountain bike riding again which I didn't do at all last summer cuz I was so sick. I'm hoping this summer will be a whole new ballgame!

Take care and hand in there!!

[tex]

Kim,

Yes, we don't digest significant quantities of sugar well until our gut heals. The partially-digested sugar goes to our colon where it is fermented by bacteria, producing gas, bloating, and D.

FWIW I couldn't eat beef while I was recovering either. It didn't cause D, but it caused a backache and shoulder aches, mild to moderate gas and bloating. Followed by a headache the next day. After a couple of years of healing I can eat beef just fine. You might possibly be able to eat bison now. What was your overall score on the 11 antigenic foods? That score is important for determining sensitivity to those 11 foods.

Tex

[Alchemy1]

Hi Tex - my overall score was 10 which is right at the limit. What exactly does that mean?

BTW - My husband cooked a roast beef last night and I ate it, cuz he'd put a lot of work into that nice meal, but was then very sorry I'd done so...and in very short order! He used flour to thicken the gravy which didn't help things at all! I was in the bathroom less than ten minutes after supper and spent most of the evening doing the infamous Outhouse Polka! I was still sick this morning and it made me late to work. My hubby was very discouraged when he learned I couldn't eat beef. However, what he really needs to understand, more than anything else, is that I can't have wheat flour in my food. He's flummoxed because he doesn't know what to fix for super anymore. I've started a list of the things that are now forbidden and he's having trouble coming to grips with it. I did order a cookbook that follows the Paleo type of eating. That should help because he can make meals from those recipes as long as they don't have eggs and beef in them

Is rice flour something you can substitute for wheat flour? Is it good for baking and cooking like wheat flour? I'm going to the health food store after work tomorrow and was wondering if I should pick up some rice flour.