Food Triggers

[Annecz]

Hello!

I'm new to CC and trying to figure things out. Any advice to the below questions would be greatly appreciated.

If I'm sensitive to chicken and beef, is it also likely that making bone broth from these two would cause a flare; or should it be safer since I'm not consuming the actual meat?

I've had consistent D for months. Now I'm having a second episode of C (so far four days). I'm slowly introducing new food into my diet. Should I consider new food okay if it's not causing D, or is C considered to be a result of a trigger food too?

I've tried sunflower seed butter, and it appears to be okay for me. Raw sunflower seed butter is better health-wise than roasted; but would the roasted be easier to digest, or does it not matter?

Thank you!
Anne

[tex]

Hi Anne,

I'll take a stab at answering your questions.

If I'm sensitive to chicken and beef, is it also likely that making bone broth from these two would cause a flare;

Yes, in most cases it would either cause a flare, or cause enough additional background inflammation to make triggering a flare from any cause much more likely.

I've had consistent D for months. Now I'm having a second episode of C (so far four days). I'm slowly introducing new food into my diet. Should I consider new food okay if it's not causing D, or is C considered to be a result of a trigger food too?

First off, if you're not in remission, why are you trying new foods? How would you tell whether a food is safe or not, If you're not in remission? But to answer your question, yes, although it's uncommon, some of us (such as me, for example) have alternating D and C when our MC is active, and a few of us have constipation as a predominant symptom of active MC. For example, my symptoms alternated on about a 10 day to two week cycle. I would have constipation, with no bowel movement for about four days, and then the watery D would return. In between, I'd have one or two days of normal stools. Cases with constipation only, are typically the most difficult to control, because taking budesonide just makes symptoms worse, since it's constipating, and because constipation is difficult to control in the first place, without MC as a contributing factor.

I've tried sunflower seed butter, and it appears to be okay for me. Raw sunflower seed butter is better health-wise than roasted; but would the roasted be easier to digest, or does it not matter?

How important this is probably depends on where a patient is in their recovery cycle, but early on, at least, roasted nut or seed butters are more easily digested, and less likely to trigger a flare, than when they are raw. And as far as I can tell, they have better flavor. Raw foods in general are off-limits, during the recovery period, since they typically trigger flares.

You'll be better off, if you forget about whatever you previously considered to be healthy foods, and concentrate on recovering from the MC reaction, because after you're in remission, if you're like most of us, you'll discover that your "healthy foods" need to be redefined, because some of them are not so healthy, after all.

Tex

[Annecz]

Hi Tex,

Thank you again for your response. I thought with the onset of C that I may be going into remission and thought it might be a good time to test foods---wrong. I do have a couple more questions, if you or anyone wouldn't mind providing some insight--it would be so appreciated!

Brief history:
D started eight months ago (15/day). Last December, I started the SCD diet and stopped taking oral magnesium and a flavored L-Glutamine. Within 24 hours, remission began and lasted six weeks. In hindsight, my error was in adding SCD yogurt and aged cheddar cheese. Both the yogurt and a probiotic contained bif cultures. When the D started again, I stopped the dairy and probiotic.

D continued (not as severe as earlier). I then got off SCD and moved closer to a Paleo diet, adding in rice and golden potatoes. The starch seemed to help but created C for a few days. I ate an onion and then it was back to D. I'm now five days into C again. I'm eating waaaay too much rice and potato.

When I was eating SCD, I was successfully able to eat much greater variety (blueberries, tomato sauce, duck eggs, homemade bread w/almond flour) without any issues---until it no longer worked. Because of the lack of variety, I consumed large quantities of the SCD yogurt, cheddar, breads, etc. I'm guessing the downfall was from the dairy, or perhaps all the above had a cumulative negative affect. Now I'm back to page one and don't know what to do.

I did well on SCD initially, so I question if the starch is helpful or harmful for an MC diet?

If I'm in a continual state of flare (D or C) and unable to test potential trigger foods, unsure what my safe foods truly are, then what am I to eat? I assume I'm ok with rice, banana and turkey, but I don't know concretely. I've had too many months with lack of nutrition and feeling weak with brain fog. I'll probably order Enterolab tests, but I understand that takes weeks for results. So in the meantime, I'm fearful of eating possible trigger foods that may worsen my healing, but I need some nutrients.

I don't know if chicken or beef are okay, so I'm hesitant to make the broth until I know for sure. Aside from the six months of remission, I've had too many months with lack of nutrients and it's taking a toll in so many ways. I can't live off of rice, banana, and turkey for months endlessly.

Are there any suggestions you can please provide?

Thank you!!
Anne

[Gabes-Apg]

my observations

- no strict eating plan like SCD works for MC, each person has to find their ingredients that work
- agree with Tex, fluctuating D and C is indication of Inflammation - do not add new ingredients
- dont get consumed with over thinking and trying to do everything perfectly from onset
- dont focus on nutrients (or lack of) while you are inflamed the body won't be fully absorbing them nor converting some of them to the active form.

go back to simple bland ingredients. you won't have to eat this forever.
have you read the guidelines to recovery section? this will give you guideline of what has worked for thousands of others
dont make too many changes at the same time. Make small batch of beef broth (preferably grass fed beef) have small amounts with rice for three days, see what happens. If D occurs stop.

are you taking Vit D3 and magnesium?

the enterolab testing will take a couple of weeks but will hopefully give you information to form a foundation of safe ingredients to work from

[Annecz]

Thank you Gabes. I appreciate your response.

I just ordered the Enterolab tests, and I'll go through the recovery section again. I'm unsure if I'm sensitive to beef (I've suspected it in the past), so I've been hesitant to do the beef broth--but I'm not sure what that leaves me with if chicken broth is also out.

I'm taking about 4,000 vitamin D and using Life Flow magnesium lotion. How much lotion should I be applying daily for results?

What are your thoughts on the Coca Pulse Test for other food sensitivities not on the lab tests? In your experience, are these results accurate?

Thank you!
Anne

[Gabes-Apg]

my thoughts on meat

sometimes it is not the meat type that is the issue - moreso how it has been farmed
mainstream mass produced meat sources are fed crap! cheap crops, rejected food item batches (lollies, cake mixes, biscuit batches. full of sugar and ingredients their bodies can not digest) doesnt matter if it is beef, chicken etc

one of the reasons that we encourage game meats is that those animals meat product is only viable if they are 'grass fed' follow natural grazing and eating patterns.
I am very lucky here in Australia, there is wide variety of affordable grass fed meats. the food supply chain for meat in America is very different

EG. I can not tolerate eggs from supermarket. the chickens are fed gluten and soy grains, the eggs are covered in vegetable oil to help them last longer in the supermarket process (transportation and storage etc)
the eggs from my local butcher are free range, minimal grains are fed to the chickens and the eggs are not coated in vegetable oil

life with MC and sorting out what works and what doesnt, is trial and error - sorry - there is no guaranteed solution or set group of ingredients that suits everybody - what is one persons very safe staple, can be a trigger for another. The only way to know is with things like the enterolab testing and trial and error.

As I am in Australia I have never heard of Coca pulse testing. I have used Kinesology based approach to testing ingredients (I suspect it is similar to the Coca pulse testing you mention) this only worked when inflammation levels were calm. it doesnt work when my immune system is reacting.

Magnesium lotion - the RDA for magnesium is 300-400 mg elemental magnesium. if you are deficient you will need more than this for at least 8 weeks to start to resolve deficiency.
Certain things can deplete magnesium, coffee, some medications, hormones, for starters.
check the label of the bottle and see how much you need. when I was resolving magnesium deficiency I would have the lotion beside the toilet. every time I went to the toilet I would put mag lotion on the tops of my legs and stomach
I use magnesium chloride flakes to do foot soaks.

as I suggested, get some grass fed good quality meat. Make a small batch of broth and try it. a few bones will make a couple of litres of broth.
If you can't handle the broth straight, cook the rice in the broth and make gooey savoury rice. dont strain /rinse the rice the cloudy liquid is gut healing.

[Annecz]

Thanks again Gabes. I appreciate your suggestions and insight, as it's crazy to try to sort through all this stuff in the beginning. I sure hope it gets better. I'll look into finding some good bones for the broth.

--Anne

[Gabes-Apg]

Your welcome -

I hope things improve for you soon.

[brandy]

Hi Anne,

Welcome to the forum! I read this thread and your other thread.

It sounds like you get periods of remission and then you relapse. In general when you get a period of remission stick with what you are doing (don't add new supplements or new foods.) Sticking with the few safe foods diet in remission will allow your gut to heal and long term you will be able to add in variety and not have a reflare.

I ate 5 safe Brandy foods for many, many months. Other than banana or avacado I did not test additional fruits until the 2 year point. I'd encourage you to stick with what worked from paleo and scd (skip the dairy) and stick with it to allow for healing.

"flavored" L glutamine--this would be problematic for me even now, I don't do well with flavorings
oral magnesium--if I am in a WD flare it prevents me from getting to remission
boxed gluten free chicken broth--I can tolerate it when I'm in remission, if I'm not in remission the homemade is safer
starches--rice, sweet potatoes and potatoes--you need this stuff for calories to live, don't be afraid of them.
I know that the starches contributed to my brain fog. I actually could tell but I needed calories to live.

Brain fog--I'm flying now but there is a B vitamin that many of us take. When I land I'll post the info. It really helped with the brain fog.

Consider stick to the few food regimen that works for you. Don't add foods back too quickly. Don't be overly concerned with nutrition. If you are eating nutritious foods but getting WD you are not absorbing nutrients anyways.

I'm 10 years into recovery and I can eat salads now. I can eat a bit of cheese now. I can drink a bit of alcohol now (with food). I can eat corn on the cob now. It took many years before I could eat salads and corn on the cob and I was so scared of reflare that I did not test cheese until year 7.

I'm getting ready to land so will post later.

[brandy]

Hi,

Thorne Methyl Guard Plus is the B vitamin mix that many of us take. It helped to clear my brain fog.
It did not work quickly. I took it for around 45 days then my brain fog cleared.

I could tell that starchy foods definitely contributed to brain fog. So that I could function at work and have a clearer brain I ended up eating carbs (rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes) after 2:00 pm and always had them with dinner.

Good luck with your healing.

[Annecz]

Thank you Brandy. I stopped taking most vitamins when I was diagnosed with CC, including the Thorne Methyl Guard+. I'll start that up again. That's good input about having the starchy food later in the day, as I've been noticing the brain fog much more at work lately. I appreciate your input.

--Anne