Guidance for a noob

[Gabes-Apg]

I'm kind of on overload. Got a lot to consume from you guys today. Thanks for taking the time.

that is very normal! it happens to many
my analogy is that it is a bit like Alice in Wonderland - you fall through a rabbit hole and everything seems weird, bonkers, totally opposite to everything you have known until this point in your life - we appear quite mad or bonkers! but then you realise that we are not mad or bonkers - it is the 'other world' that has got things backwards and upside down!! (other world being medical system, big pharma, food marketing etc)

so many niggly symptoms start to 'make sense' and you connect the dots of various events in your life that are part of your health journey that cumulated in you finding this group

take your time to 'digest' the info here ( yep pun intended)
it can take a fair bit of energy to embrace the suggestions, review/revise 40 years of beliefs food wise, socialising based on food etc
it is also empowering to get this info - get these answers and see that getting well is 'very dooable' - it may not be easy, but it is very dooable.

happy new year Kelly.

[Vanessa]

Hey Kelly,
I just wanted to add how important magnesium is to your arsenal. I suffered from "skipped beats" and pounding heart until I got my magnesium stores up. You may have to look into different kinds that your body likes. I found success with ReMag. When you let things sink in for a bit (and keep up topical magnesium) do some research :) I also realized it wasn't just about magnesium and started taking the other liquid form of Dr. Dean's product called ReMyte. Take things slow and keep asking us questions when stuff pops up.

[kbb]

Hi Kelly,

My snacks are often mini meals, i.e. small amount protein, small amt rice, a little overcooked veggies. (same as other meals of the day.) Welcome to the forum.

Thanks Brandy... I've been working on this. Starting to get used to it. I think part of my problem is I'm lazy so I'll just heat up some meat or some veggies instead of both. Wonder how important it is to eat things together...

Thanks for the welcome, ya'll are so nice!

[kbb]

that is very normal! it happens to many
my analogy is that it is a bit like Alice in Wonderland - you fall through a rabbit hole and everything seems weird, bonkers, totally opposite to everything you have known until this point in your life - we appear quite mad or bonkers! but then you realise that we are not mad or bonkers - it is the 'other world' that has got things backwards and upside down!! (other world being medical system, big pharma, food marketing etc)

so many niggly symptoms start to 'make sense' and you connect the dots of various events in your life that are part of your health journey that cumulated in you finding this group

take your time to 'digest' the info here ( yep pun intended)
it can take a fair bit of energy to embrace the suggestions, review/revise 40 years of beliefs food wise, socialising based on food etc
it is also empowering to get this info - get these answers and see that getting well is 'very dooable' - it may not be easy, but it is very dooable.

happy new year Kelly.

Thanks for all the encouragement Gabes. I hope you had a great New Year. I'm slowly ramping up. Almost got everything in place. Been off the soy, eggs, and dairy since I first posted. Got my shake stuff today and my magnesium should show up tomorrow. I would say I'm 95% compliant. Plan to be 100% by end of day tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help.

[kbb]

Hey Kelly,
I just wanted to add how important magnesium is to your arsenal. I suffered from "skipped beats" and pounding heart until I got my magnesium stores up. You may have to look into different kinds that your body likes. I found success with ReMag. When you let things sink in for a bit (and keep up topical magnesium) do some research :) I also realized it wasn't just about magnesium and started taking the other liquid form of Dr. Dean's product called ReMyte. Take things slow and keep asking us questions when stuff pops up.

Hi Venessa: Thanks for the advice. I ordered the Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil from Amazon I saw referenced in one of Gabes posts. Should be here tomorrow. I am a little leery of taking Magnesium supplements orally if it might cause D. That should be ok right?

[Gabes-Apg]

being a bit organised - having safe 'staples' will become part of the routine.

you only have to sway away from the safe staples a couple of times and have bad symptoms and this motivates you to 'stick to the plan' as life without the symptoms is worth the effort, time and motivation etc...

I do cook ups on the weekend of soups/stews and freeze them in meal portions - having things pre-prepared makes it easier.

The other thing is having 'one pot' type meals of safe ingredients, some home made bone broth, couple of veges and some safe protein as ground meat or small pieces, takes 6-8 mins to prepare, let it slow cook while i do some other things, and 20-30 mins later it is ready.
i freeze raw protein in meal size servings, pull it out of the freezer into the fridge before i go to work, come home from work, do the quick meal prep let it cook while i do some other things, and viola it is ready in no time (and to minimise washing up - i will eat it out of the pot! )

[kbb]

Hey all:

I’ve been on the phase one diet, pretty strictly, for about 6 weeks now. No improvement, I have WD 1-3 times a day. Doesn’t seem to matter what I do. I can not tell what makes it worse or better, other than I know if I eat hot spicy food that’s become a no-no. Taking 10000UI of VitD3 and 400mg of Magnesium….

Went to the new primary care doctor, the D.O. I like her. She’s honest with me that she won’t have all my answers, but she doesn’t say crazy things like “Mother Nature has already decided which autoimmune disorders you’re going to have” when I told her that I was concerned I was going to end up with other autoimmune disorders if I didn’t figure out what was causing my inflammation. So, she referred me to an allergist, and a then an Rheumatologist when the ANA test she had done on me came back positive.

I struggled with doing the allergy tests because I didn’t think they would come back positive. I figured I have food sensitivities, not allergies so this is a waste. But then I’d never been tested, so I figured you should know if you have allergies… So, I did it. I was positive for 24 out of 70 foods. So after I recovered from that shock, I decided this means I pull out/replace the ones that I’m eating with my phase one diet and keep on trucking. Keeping in mind that just because I didn’t react to the test ( skin prick ), doesn’t mean I don’t have a sensitivity to it so it doesn’t mean it’s safe. Just another tool in my arsenal. Just did the allergy tests on Friday.

Haven’t gone to the Rheumatologist yet. But if I’m coming down with Lupus, or something like that, again probably good information to know. My ANA was low 1:80 speckled. But still more info. My thoughts are that whatever is happening there will hopefully clear up when I get my diet right. Maybe we just call it extra motivation to keep on at it. Good way to look at it?

So modified/current plan is to pull out the things I showed an ‘allergy’ too, and see if I clear. I’m thinking I’ll give it another few weeks and if I still don’t clear, I’ll probably do the Enterolab tests. Please note, that my decision to do the allergy tests doesn’t mean I personally place as better then the Enterolab tests. It’s really a timing thing. Due for the physical/new doc/new path there. BTW, I asked both my D.O and Allergist about these tests to see if they could order them. They could/(would?) not. But neither of them bad mouthed it either. D.O basically claimed ignorance, not her specialty, hence allergist referral. The Allergist simply said it’s not proven yet so she can’t go there ( my paraphrase ), she seemed genuinely interested in my results if I get them done though.

Anyway, so, updated plan… Allergic to 24 things I was tested for. Of those only a handful me now anyway, banana, beef, and rice.

My beef has been limited to beef fat in my ground venison, and beef stock. I’ll use pork fat for the venison, and still have to figure out a plan for the stock replacement. Thoughts welcome on stock to make for venison soup welcome. Banana, that makes me so sad. If I was cheating on the diet this would have been where, I was probably eating on average 1.5 bananas a day, I was splurging from time to time. Thinking of using the canned pears and peaches, freezing them in batches to use in my smoothies. Rice was pretty regular, guess I go without. Maybe I’ll put in cauliflower to replace in my soups.

So, why the update…? Just looking for folks to tell me I’m looking that this information correctly or not. I know that allergies and food sensitivities are different. But if I react to the foods, I guess with IgE antibodies it would be, then I probably shouldn’t be eating them right? Any other tweaks I might think about taking at this point?

BTW, here’s the complete list of stuff I reacted too: egg yolk, pineapple, cantaloupe, orange, celery, black pepper, peanut, brazil nut, almond, filbert/hazelnut, catfish, mackerel, apple, strawberry, banana, cranberry, tomato, green pea, rice, rye, corn, yeast, beef, turkey.

Thanks all.

[tex]

Hi Kelly,

Unless you are taking budesonide or some other anti-inflammatory med, it's unrealistic to expect much improvement in six weeks. It typically takes at least several months for the damage to our gut to do enough healing to reduce symptoms significantly. Only a few are that lucky. However, if you don't see at least some degree of improvement within another six weeks or so, it may be time to reassess your diet.

My thoughts are that whatever is happening there will hopefully clear up when I get my diet right. Maybe we just call it extra motivation to keep on at it. Good way to look at it?

Definitely. That's exactly what happens in most cases (based on posts on this forum).

Please be aware that skin test allergy results have such poor correlation with MC that you may be avoiding those foods unnecessarily. If you find that you have a runny nose, or facial flush, or a rash, or sneezing, or throat congestion, or itching, or significantly increased heart rate (10 % or more) for example, within about 10 or 15 minutes after you begin to eat those foods, then it would probably be a good idea to avoid them. But if all of the symptoms are absent, then there's no point in avoiding those foods because what triggers a reaction on our skin typically has little effect on our digestive system in most cases. It won't hurt anything (other than your menu diversity) to avoid those foods, but it is unlikely to provide any benefits, either.

Yes, a lot of physicians seem to be interested in the EnteroLab tests (off the record), but they're afraid to embrace them because of the fear of professional backlash (from their peers and the higher ups who set policies and speak for the profession).

But if I react to the foods, I guess with IgE antibodies it would be, then I probably shouldn’t be eating them right?

Correct. Look for the symptoms that I listed. When we ingest an IgE-based allergen to which we are sensitive, we always promptly react with one or more of those classic symptoms. Those sensitivities are much easier to detect than IgA-based food sensitivities because the reactions occur almost immediately after exposure.

Thanks for the update, and I hope that your diet changes will soon begin to bring obvious improvements.

Tex

[kbb]

Thanks for the feedback Tex, I really appreciate it. I know I need to be patient. I just keep wanting my GF time before I found you guys to count ;)

[tex]

I just keep wanting my GF time before I found you guys to count ;)

It does count. Gluten (anti-gliadin) antibodies have a half-life of 120 days. That makes those antibodies very persistent and they continue to cause symptoms for many months after gluten is removed from the diet (how long they cause symptoms depends on the antibody level when gluten is removed from the diet).

Most other food sensitivities have a half-life of approximately 6 days. So recovering from the damage done by gluten typically constitutes the lion's share of our recovery time (because removing gluten from the diet does not immediately stop the production of new inflammation — the antibody level has to slowly decay to a much lower level before the inflammation will begin to fade. With the relatively short half-life of most other food-induced antibodies, we respond favorably to removing them from our diet relatively quickly. But that can only happen after the gluten antibodies have declined to a level below our threshold for triggering a reaction.

You're very welcome — I hope I haven't just confused the issue.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

if you were majorily deficient in Vit D3 and magnesium, then it can take at least 6 weeks, average is about 12 weeks, and for some it can be 16 weeks or more to resolve these deficiencies.

the other aspect to the MC Journey and triggers is not all of our triggers are food based.
ie if you are reactive to soy then you might be reacting to moisturisers, make up products etc.
Also for some people, they have to eliminate all sources of gluten ie shampoos, make up, toothpaste etc.

and a common one for many here- stress - emotional stress and/or mental stress and/or physical stress??

additional to this - is your kitchen gluten free? ie is there any risk of contamination during meal prep?
Did you invest in new utensils? cookware? chopping boards etc?

give your reaction to corn, rye etc, definitely invest in grass fed meat sources to minimise exposure to grain feed livestock.

hope this helps.

[kbb]

Hey Tex, you're not confusing. Thanks for the follow up. Good to know that I might be a little further along.

Gabes, I don't cook with gluten anymore so day to day, I don't have a risk of recontaminating my kitchen. The Hubby just eats what I eat. He's sweet that way. As far as utensils and stuff. I was thinking that the need was more around continuing to cook gluten and non-gluten and that I would be ok reusing most things. I killed my toaster, and I haven't decided what to do with my cast iron yet. Other than that I figured if I switched and didn't turn back I'd be ok. No? Something I wondered about when I read the direction originally, will be nice to have confirmation. As far as the shampoos and stuff, I've been switching over through attrition, I'll make a sweep and see where I stand. Thanks so much for the additional feedback. I'm likely a stress case. Been trying to work on that. It's a spiral, I'm sure you understand...

Ya'll are awesome. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS YOU!

[tex]

Kelly,

Here are my personal opinions on using cooking equipment that has been previously exposed to gluten and other inflammatory foods. Yes, as long as those pots and pans don't have any cracks or deep scratches or grooves that can hide gluten, they should be OK. A thorough initial scrubbing in all the nooks and crannies should make them good to go. Baking pans require closer attention (or replacement) because of the high risk of baked-on residue that survives the washing process.

The really high-risk items that should be replaced and used only for your own food preparation (and stored separately so that there's no risk of someone else accidentally using them for the wrong purpose) include cutting boards, wooden bowls, wooden spoons, etc., and toasters. A toaster could probably be thoroughly cleaned and reused provided that no one else used it for wheat bread afterward, but if someone in the house toasts wheat bread, then you should have your own toaster (if you use a toaster).

The other items such as cutting boards and wooden utensils, or any other porous utensils are pretty much impossible to completely decontaminate so they should never be used by someone who has food sensitivities after they have been contaminated.

The safety of using cast iron utensils that have previously been exposed to gluten and other possible inflammatory foods is constantly debated. Ideally, one should thoroughly clean the utensil and then season (reseason) it, in order to properly prepare it for gluten-free use. The fact that cooking in cast iron pots is a good way to boost iron levels is prima facie evidence that we do indeed absorb nutrients from porous cooking utensils, and if all traces of gluten are not removed, they may be included in the nutrients that we absorb from cast iron pots.

At least that's the way I view the risks.

You're most welcome,
Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

I'm likely a stress case. Been trying to work on that. It's a spiral, I'm sure you understand...

I do and that is why I mention it - making lifestyle changes to bring more calm into our lives is just as important as the diet changes and taking the right supplements.

what most of us learn, we cant hide or avoid stress happening in our lives, but we can change how we react to it, and minimise the impact on our health.
with we have MC, especially when it is flaring, we have a limited bank of energy, emotional, mental and physical energy. we have budget this or our bodies will let us know when we are overdrawing on these banks - via inflammation.

I understand that it is full on first, reading things here, making the diet changes, realising there is no quick fix to the D, double checking every product for hidden ingredients, and that improvement takes time.
in the guidelines to recovery section we have some suggested resources that can help

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22350

[kbb]

Tex, thanks for sharing your opinions on the cookware issue. I'll go take some action on that.

Gabes, thanks for the guidance. I'll revamp my de-stressing efforts. I know I need too.

Thanks for all your time guys.