My Elimination Diet Trial

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:18 pm

Thought I'd start a thread for how I'm doing my elimination diet, the results, and if people care to comment. :)

Ok, I have cut out the majority of the common allergens except for corn as I think I'm ok with it. I seem ok the last 2 days. Though yesterday I had a strange BM I felt fine nonetheless. Well other than feeling tired, but I'm thinking this is something else. I know I'm supposed to wait 2 weeks or so of feeling fine, but I'm not a patient person. LOL Hopefully this won't ruin the experiment.

You can see all that I eat each day by clicking on my Fitday link in my signature.

Anyway, today I introduced 1 ounce of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese this morning at around 9:30 am or so. This cheese is agged 9 months so it should be pretty lactose free.

It's now 1:15 pm and I don't really feel anything strange or different.

How quickly does cheese/diary products (in this case just the whey or casein) react in people?

Thanks,
Mike

TendrTummy · Post by **TendrTummy** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:38 pm

Mike,

Most on here have noted that dairy affects us within an hour or two. How much of the cheese did you eat?

BTW I have the patience issue too. I'm NOT patient. So which major allergens did you eliminate? I'd be curious to know if you're still using eggs and nuts. Also, I wonder if you're actively avoiding corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup or excessive amounts of sugar. A lot of us have to, so I guess I would count that in the major allergens group for us, but I'm just curious at this point..

Christine

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:49 pm

TendrTummy wrote:Mike,

Most on here have noted that dairy affects us within an hour or two. How much of the cheese did you eat?

BTW I have the patience issue too. I'm NOT patient. So which major allergens did you eliminate? I'd be curious to know if you're still using eggs and nuts. Also, I wonder if you're actively avoiding corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup or excessive amounts of sugar. A lot of us have to, so I guess I would count that in the major allergens group for us, but I'm just curious at this point..

Christine

I ate 1 ounce of cheese all by itself and 2 hours before I ate my next meal. It's what the elimination diet info here on our site recommended. Was that not enough? Should I eat more through out the day?

Ok, as to what I haven't been eating lately other than gluten.
diary - casein and lactose (bits of fetta cheese here and there but tiny tiny amounts)
soy (but I don't really plan on adding this back if I can help it)
Eggs (though enterolab thinks I'm ok)
Citris (I think it's just the acidity for me, would like to add it back)
Coconut (not sure if it's an issue, but I will test for it since I like it)
Chocolate (I think this might be a problem for me, but I have to test this one for sure.)
nuts (though I think I'm fine here)

Things I didn't or don't avoid:
Rice - Don't think it's an issue
Corn - I was avoiding corn but I don't think it's a problem. I don't eat corn syrup or HFCS if I can help it and I notice it in the ingredients.
Yeast - was tested by enterolab and I'm fine, but I don't see it much in my ingredients anyway

As far as excessive amounts of sugar being a problem, I'm not sure. What is excessive?

Mike

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:50 pm

Here's the info that I'm using:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=732

TendrTummy · Post by **TendrTummy** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:33 pm

LOL Excessive can vary.

I would say a candy bar is excessive. Hot chocolate is excessive. Any item that contains a lot of sugars or types of sugar, like sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, etc. I would say if it has more than 2 kinds of sugar, it's excessive. I dunno if it causes me harm, because corn syrup itself causes me harm, so I've had to do away with ALL of the above.

Not sure if 1 oz is enuf but hey, if that's what the tolerance test says, follow it. I personally would eat more, just because A) if you're going to eat it, and it might cause you pain, by golly, EAT A LOT LOL. You're going to have pain/diarrhea if you react no matter what the amount, and B) if you eat too little of it, I wouldn't trust that the test is good enuf, and would retest with a larger amount.

Sounds like you're doing well to figure out just what is the issue tho :) Good luck with that. I've never been able to do a tolerance test.. whenever I eat good and feel good, I overdo it with not only ONE item but multiple items LOL I'm bad that way.

Christine

Jean · Post by **Jean** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:19 pm

Mike,

Diary takes 6 hours for me to react, but it can take up to 24 hours.

Question: Did you feel better after two days on the elimination diet? I hope so.

Here's hoping that you can handle diary!

Love, Jean

PS I'll be out of town until Sat. night, so I'm not ignoring you.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:03 pm

Yeah, I was feeling much better by eliminating everything.

Now I'm not sure about the dairy. I felt sour at around 6:30 pm or so and still feel a little funny, I don't feel too terrible though. It's mainly just a sour feeling in my belly and kind of like heart burn not bad though. But then I am also taking a new supplement given to me by that Natureopath.

I might just say no to dairy depending on the next 24 or so hours and try some of the other things. Then maybe try dairy again.

So if I have a reaction that's around 9 hours after ingestion if it's the cheese.

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:42 pm

Ok, Cheese is out for now. Yikes! Approximately 12 hours later, very painfull cramps, gas, and then diarrhea. This is very strange as I don't remember any reaction to yogurt.

Anything different about cheddar cheese than other dairy products? Supposedly my sister can tolerate motzerella (sp) and goat cheeses. How might these cheses be different?

Also, if this cheese doesn't contain lactose, and according to my lab results I don't have a casein intollerence, what is left? What did I react to?

I suppose it could have been something else, but the coincedence is pretty high.

Thanks,
Mike

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:28 am

Mike,

Just a suggestion here. It might be wise to stop all supplements while you do the elimination diet. Otherwise you'll never know for sure what you are reacting to.

Love,

Polly

moremuscle · Post by **moremuscle** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:38 am

Hi Mike,

I had the same thoughts as Polly. It isn't smart to add something new or unknown to your diet while you are testing for something else. Gotta develop some patience...... LOL!! It's necessary when you are a food scientist

Love,
Karen

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:25 am

I thought about that too, but the scientist in me says that if I keep the supplements up and don't do dairy again and feel better in the next couple of days I can pretty much say it was the cheese. I'm almost absolutely certain it was the cheese, but like I said I might try it again after trying the rest of the things on the list.

It was rather interesting my reaction to it. I haven't had painful D and cramps like that for a while. In fact I still don't feel so well and I lost about 2 lbs from yesterday. Gonna drink lots of water today.

How long does food take to travel through the body? How long for foods that I'm tollerant of? And foods that I'm intollerant of? 12 hours seems pretty fast to me. If I were to guess for me I'd say food takes about 24 hours or so.

And why would cheese react like that? There's supposedly little or no lactose, the testing I did via enterolab says that casein isn't a problem. What's left? And I don't remember a reaction like this to yogurt.

I'm not all that hung up on wanting cheese other than variety and being able to eat yogurt.

Thanks,
Mike

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:32 am

Mike,

What are the ingredients listed on the label for that cheese?

Gut transit time varies from person to person. It is affected by illness - thus most with the initial diagnosis of MC have a very rapid transit time.
Food triggers vary in the amount of time it takes them to travel the gut. Dairy is the quickest for me - it used to be 2 hours or less. Gluten takes about 16-18 hours. I think Wayne takes days to react to corn. It is a very individual thing - we are all different in this regard. As you keep experimenting, I'm sure you will determine your own patterns. But it does take time, repetition, and patience, unfortunately.

Love,

Polly

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:40 am

Polly wrote:Mike,

What are the ingredients listed on the label for that cheese?

Gut transit time varies from person to person. It is affected by illness - thus most with the initial diagnosis of MC have a very rapid transit time.
Food triggers vary in the amount of time it takes them to travel the gut. Dairy is the quickest for me - it used to be 2 hours or less. Gluten takes about 16-18 hours. I think Wayne takes days to react to corn. It is a very individual thing - we are all different in this regard. As you keep experimenting, I'm sure you will determine your own patterns. But it does take time, repetition, and patience, unfortunately.

Love,

Polly

The cheese was Tillamook brand Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Naturally aged over 9 months. Ingredients: Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto (color). Contains no animal rennent. The celiac and Tillamooks website indicate that they are gluten free.

Any thoughts on foods that aren't triggers? How long for food to digest?

Jean · Post by **Jean** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 6:00 am

Hi Mike,

You're doing great! I know this diet is hard, but you'll be happy you did it when you're done.

Annatto sends up a red flag for me, but I don't remember why. I think I thought I was reacting to it before I discovered casein. It's a food coloring made from tree seeds.

Why don't you list the ingredients in your suppliment for us.

You said you never noticed a reaction to yogurt, but as you have discovered, you may not react for 12 hours. That's a lot of time to blame a reaction to yogurt on something else. What do you think?

Love, Jean

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:04 am

Mike,

I am wondering about the annatto too. Have you tested yet using an aged cheese that is not colored?

In answer to your other question, the "average" gut transit time from mouth to anus is usually about 24 hours. But everyone is different. For some people it is normal to have a BM twice a day.....others go every 2-3 days.

A food trigger increases the gut transit time - sometimes dramatically, as we well know!

Love,

Polly