Hi Sunny,
LOL. Your, "She's soooo in denial!!!!
", expression, seems pretty accurate, and yes, most of us go through that stage. I was lucky, though, because I wasn't aware of any of this information when I made my trip. I wasn't aware of any discussion boards on the subject, and I wasn't aware of Enterolab. Consequently, even though I was keeping a "food diary", it took me a year and a half to convince myself that cutting out gluten wasn't enough, and dairy and corn would have to go, also. Once I finally convinced myself to make that change, remission became a reality within a couple of weeks.
Regarding the diet you mighty choose to follow, we all have to make our own decisions about that, depending on will power, lifestyle, and probably a few other things. Here is what I think: In order for your gut to completely heal, all the foods to which you are intolerant, will have to go. If you plan to take meds for the rest of your life, to control the MC, then it's possible that you might be able to tolerate
some of those foods. IOW, your gut might not have to completely heal, in order to maintain remission. Gluten has the most potential to create damage. Gluten antibodies can be detected by a stool test, up to a full year after all gluten has been removed from the diet. For all other food intolerances, the respective antibodies can be reliably detected by a stool test for only a few weeks after the item is withdrawn from the diet. Based on that observation, I never, ever allow myself to take any chances, (to the best of my knowledge), on gluten, (unless I'm doing something such as the oat test that I did a year ago - but actually, that's avenin, not gluten), because of the risk of long-term damage to my gut. If I slip up on some other food intolerance, though, I don't worry so much about long-term damage. It might make me sick, but in a few days, I should be as good as new , and hopefully my gut will be none the worse for wear. Being sick is no fun, though, so it's a pretty good motivator, to help one stick to a diet. I'm sure everyone has his or her own opinion about what's involved, or at risk, with this issue, however.
Gloria,
Hopefully, after you're able to take control of your diet, (IOW, do your own cooking), your gut should have a chance to heal, and after a couple of years or so, (possibly sooner), you should be able to add a lot of those foods back into your diet, (except for the ones to which you are truly intolerant.
Tex
.....I eat a lot of cottage cheese, cheese, half & half in my coffee...you get the picture. So DH says why not just focus on gluten for a while and then start eliminating the dairy later on so it is not so much all at once? He feels for me, I know....it is not that he is trying to sabotage me. Since my casein numbers weren't THAT bad...maybe I could do that? I am grasping at straws, probably. I do not react to dairy when I eat it....however, the test results indicate that the damage goes on whether I react or not, right? I think a week with no D is pretty heady stuff and I want to believe I am fine. (Hey, stop laughing so hard and yelling..."She's soooo in denial!!!! 
I see how brainwashed I have been by the dairy industry!! But....I guess some rebellious part of me doe not want to really believe that, because I usually just think....uh, huh...whatever. I just love the by-products of milk...so that info probably doen't really count somehow....LOL!!! I loved your soapbox...no need to jump off it at all!!Thanx for the input.
