New and Enterolab results

[marycat]

Hi All,

I'm new here. I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I was diagnosed in November with LC. I was extremely sick and unable to even get enough water intake. I've been on budesonide since November 21 and have been doing pretty well since about the second week of December. I had a flare on Wed., 1/8 which is improving, but I'm still having loose stools. I think trying gluten-free pretzels triggered it. Since 11/21 until last week this is what I've eaten: pork chops, chicken thighs, almond butter, rice cakes, rice Chex, bananas, apple sauce, sweet potatoes, and tea.

Based on my Enterolab results, should I be switching things up? I couldn't copy and past the table, but I could type it in if needed. Oh, and I was gluten free for about five weeks prior to my testing.

"Quantitative Microscopic Fecal Fat Score Pending (Normal Range is less than 300 Units)

Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 100 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 20 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 31 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 53 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 16 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Within each class of foods to which you displayed multiple reactions, the hierarchy of those reactions detected were as follows:

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Rice
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Corn

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Chicken
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Tuna

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Cashew
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Walnut
Nut toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Almond

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato, the member of the nightshade family usually consumed most often and in greatest quantities. While this does not necessarily mean you would react to all other nightshade foods (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), it is possible. In the realm of elimination diets for immunologic disorders, nightshades are usually eliminated as the entire food class (i.e., all four previously mentioned foods in this class). This is especially important to the clinical setting of arthritis.

Thanks,
Mary

[tex]

Hello Mary,

Welcome to the group. How did chicken and rice rate on the test? If they were 2+ or higher, I would switch to turkey and corn (or anything besides oats or rice). If they were rated at 1+, I might eat then occasionally, but not every day. I hope this helps.

Turkey and lamb are safe for virtually every one of us.

Again, welcome aboard,and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

[marycat]

Thanks for responding. Chicken was in the "some" or 1+. Rice was in the "moderate" or 2+.

I'm going to type it out.

No significant immunological reactivity: pork
Some .... : chicken, beef, tuna, almond, white potato
Moderate .... : rice, corn, cashew, walnut
Most .... : oat

I'm defrosting the turkey I never cooked for Thanksgiving as we speak.

Any thought on something I could add to increase my choices?

[tex]

Looks like all the grains are a problem. White potato is tough to substitute, other than sweet potato. Cauliflower is probably about the closest you can come for a substitute for mashed potatoes (using something like soy-free Earth Balance Buttery Spread).

Pork appears to be safe. Virtually every meal I eat is based on pork.

Tex

[marycat]

I live in Idaho, I'm Irish, and I can't eat potatoes...

[tex]

Tex

[carolm]

I live in Idaho, I'm Irish, and I can't eat potatoes...

Keep that sense of humor Mary! I know this looks like an overwhelming list of restrictions but once you start to focus on alternatives you’ll get some traction. I highly recommend Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread. I use either it or coconut oil for baking and olive oil for roasting vegetables or sautéing. I’ve made mashed cauliflower and it surprised me as to how close to potatoes it was. I pan roast zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots about once a week. Cauliflower roasted with a little cumin sprinkled on it is good too. Sweet potato fries are also now a favorite of ours.
If you boil some turkey bones for a few hours and make bone broth you’ll have a good base for a simple turkey soup with carrots. Soups were often my go-to when I was in a flare, feeling tired and nauseated. Sometimes adding a little sage or rosemary made them more palatable, as I was often making myself eat when I really didn’t feel like it. Once in remission I have been able to add some of my 1+ foods back into my diet. For example, initially I showed some reactivity to pork, but my latest Enterolab tests showed no reactivity to pork. I’ve also been able to add eggs back in. So it does get better, but finding your baseline diet can be a challenge.
Edited: Since it looks like you can’t use almond flour or rice flour you may have to substitute coconut flour or arrowroot if needed for recipes. As for milk substitutes again you will likely have to go with coconut milk, if almond and cashews are causing reactions. I made gf cornbread yesterday diluting canned coconut milk for cows milk and it worked beautifully. Just a thought.

Best wishes-
Carol

[marycat]

Carol,

Thanks for the info. I'm accepting that I'm going to be eating a very limited diet. I wish I could get up to the store today and stock up, but it's a windy, snowy, blah day. I am going to cook a turkey today and I have sweet potatoes.

It's hard to accept that I can be "okay" without many vegetables, but clearly I wasn't well based on the fact I got so sick in November.

Again, thanks, Tex and Carol, for responding. This illness has turned my world upside down and made working very difficult, let alone just regular life.

Mary

[Marcia K]

Hi, Mary. I'm Irish, too and I think that's part of our problem! Many in Ireland have Celiac Disease and our LC is a relative...we don't have the luck of the Irish when it comes to our intestines!