Back to D - Multiple Questions - Vacation and Bone Broth

[Pam V]

I am over two of the three hurdles that I was worried about - attended my daughter's two day college orientation and managed by bringing my own food and staying at hotel with a kitchen in the room. Our family vacationed at the Cape for the week (One of the highlights is always going out to great restaurants), and did pretty well for the most part. I ate broiled fish and even ate rice (jasmine rice with celery) and some green beans that were still a little firm. I had some wine. All in all everything went pretty well. I've been on 2 Budesonide/day since June 20 - prior to that I was on 3/day for a month. I've been reading about the benefits of bone broth. I did not see myself having the time or space to make my own broth and the thought of getting bones kind of made me queasy (they recommended things like knuckles and chicken feet in the recipe I saw!). I ordered some organic chicken bone and beef bone broth from The Flavor Chef - a company in California that sources organic ingredients and bones from grass fed animals. They sell two types of broth and I got the one for Auto-Immune Protocol so it only has Spring Water, organic chicken/beef bones, carrots, celery and parsley (the broth is clear - the vegetables were strained out). It arrived Friday (frozen) and I was anxious to give it a go - it comes in 24 ounce packages that are frozen - Friday I tried the chicken broth and drank three cups (all 24 ounces). Yesterday, I tried the beef and had 1 1/2 cups.

Since last week, things have been "softer" and less formed. After a "successful" vacation, I had loosened up my strict rice/turkey, chicken, fish or beef and banana diet (which I have eaten 3x/day for the past three to four weeks) and had a few gluten free sweet potato crackers last week (2 g fiber) and I had wine with dinner a few times last week. I am tightening the diet up to go back to the banana, rice, protein protocol. I'm wondering if anyone has gotten D after bone broth? I googled D and Bone Broth and it sounded like some Bone Broth fans claim that D is a sign that it is helping. TIA for your help - Pam

[tex]

Hi Pam,

I'm glad you survived your daughter's two-day orientation process. IMO, D is never a sign of "helping". I suspect part of the problem is that the broth is commercially-prepared. Home made is virtually always better.

Parsley, for example, is not an ingredient that someone with MC would add to their broth. It's as irritating to inflamed intestines as lettuce. Yes, it was strained out, but that doesn't completely remove all of it, and if it's an irritant, why put it in there in the first place? The chicken bones especially are probably loaded with histamines due to improper handling (for someone with food sensitivities) before cooking. Excess histamine causes D for some of us.

All that said, your stool consistency is going to reflect your diet. Broth might naturally make your stool softer regardless of the origin of the broth.

Tex

[Marcia K]

Hi, Pam. It could be the gluten free crackers. Just because they are gf doesn't mean that we can safely eat them. When I look at the ingredients in gf crackers I always put the box back on the shelf. Wine could be causing issues, too. I am in remission and rarely drink one but I had a glass of white wine that was gf to celebrate my son's commissioning last week. It didn't affect my stool but a few hours later I had abdominal pain, which is rare for me. We're all different, but if it's not the bone broth causing the issue, those two items would be my guess.

[Pam V]

Thank-you Tex and Marcia for your input. Marcia, I also rarely purchase crackers - I think I was feeling brave because the rice with celery and green beans on vacation went so well. Im going to hold off on the bone broth for a few days and then will give it a try again and see what happens. I'm planning on doing the Entrolab testing but am taking my daughter to NYC (Hurdle #3) at the end of next week and don't want to get started with it until we're back.

Thank-you both again

[brandy]

Hi Pam,

My experience would be the same as Marcia's.

Welcome to the forum!

[Gabes-Apg]

I agree with the comments above, the combo of celery/parsley in the bone broth coupled with wine and the risky gf crackers would be enough to cause loose stools - due to a combo of contamination, histamine and ingredients that are high risk for inflammation for MC'ers (alcohol is highly inflammatory)

[Pam V]

Thank-you, Gabes. Next week I will have my third and, I think, last "hurdle" of the summer - a long weekend in NYC with my daughter. I'm going back to basics with rice/protein for three meals a day and will try to come up with a plan for NYC. I bought some canned salmon today and thought that maybe I could give that a try with some rice cakes. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated Thank-you for your help!

[Gabes-Apg]

be cautious of canned salmon as it generally has things like soy in it.

there are some safer options
you may find some good info here in this section of the forum - tips on travelling
http://perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=62

as you are reacting to histamine items, taking anti-histamines may also be helpful for keeping inflammation levels down