Newbie

[scoutfinch]

I've eliminated gluten, but in reading this site, I suspect I could be much more rigorous. Example: a fiber one bar whose label I didn't read on tues seems to have triggered this most recent attack.

Some questions:

1. Do you recommend eliminating dairy in concert with gluten, and then soy next?
2. Advice for stop-gap measures (couldn't resist!) for getting a sudden flare under control?
3. Can I drink coffee (even if it's a cup a day!)?
4. Thoughts on flavored coffemate (non-dairy creamer)
5. Green tea? (As you can see, I like caffeine)
6. Diet sodas (i love diet 7 up)?
7. What are your nutritional staples? I am hungry all the time!

Thank you so much for being here!

-Scout

[scoutfinch]

I cut-off some of my post.

I'm a 34 year-old woman, just diagnosed with CC after 3-years. I'm also a recovering alcoholic (4 years sober), and I take prozac and buspirone for anxiety. I am mostly g-f, but upon reading this, I realize I need to be more rigorous. My experience as some of you indicate is that the trial and error process is frustrating and confusing--all the endlessly permuting variables! Psyllium husk seems to help and g-f seems to help, but I can't get lasting relief, and it seems I must overhaul my diet completely. I would like to approach this process in systematic baby steps (for scientific and motivational purposes). Any advice on getting started would be appreciated.

I'm so glad you're here!
-Scout

[Polly]

Hi Scout and

Dietary changes can be made based on how scientific you wish to be. If you want to know immediately any and all food intolerances, you can send a stool sample to enterolab (see Dr. Fine's website at www.enterolab.com.) Of course, this costs money, but it would be far and away the most scientific way to go.

Or, you can try eliminating different foods to see what happens. This takes time and must be done carefully. Some have found the quickest way to do this is to jump to the caveman diet (see Cordain's book titled "The Paleo Diet") and then add potential offending foods back in one at a time. The paleo diet eliminates all grains, dairy, and other major offenders as well as processed foods of any kind.

I wrote something here some time ago with meal suggestions for eating gluten and dairy free. You can find it by scrolling down the list of forums until you see the "information Forum". Then click on the 6th one - "Information on Diet" and then scroll down to the one called "Gluten-free and Dairy-free Meal Suggestions"".
(9th from bottom). Of course, these are not paleo suggestions, but do eliminate the 2 main offenders we experience - gluten abd dairy.

For stop-gap, most here use Imodium or Lomotil. However, you have to be careful, because some preps/meds may contain your intolerances. I have no problem with coffee and drink it black - 3-4 cups per day (which is now being recommended as healthy! - yay!). Re the creamer, most commercial products are suspect. Green tea should be OK if it has no flavorings/colorings, etc.
Re the 7-UP, many here have problems with artificial sweeteners. I prefer a concoction of apple or grape juice (pure) half and half with seltzer water to get my "soda fix".

Congrats on taking charge of your treatment plan! You are already on the road to health! And I have no doubt you will be successful, given your past triumph over alcohol. WOW Four years sober is quite an accomplishment.

Love,

Polly

[Laurie]

Hey Scout,

I was dx with MC a few years ago. Went GF & CF within the last few weeks. I have to echo the "be strict" thing although I was bucking it for a few days and trying to figure a way around it.

I seem to have NO problem with coffee (thank goodness!) - i did quit my diet soda and I got stricter on the dairy (casein free) after a few days. It is too hard to pinpoint what's going on when there were too many factors that could be contributing (soda, casein ) and sadly I 've gone strict on no M&Ms. Hard to give up so many bad habits at once and I love my chocolate. But I feel better I must admit. For my sugar fix I'm eating Gobstoppers!! (HA) - and had a great dinner last night of chicken on the grill and rice and sauteed squash and zucchini. But it takes much more time to cook dinner now than throwing mac&cheese in a pot for my kids and grabbing cookies on my way out the door.

I also wasn't sure on the creamer so I just stopped that too.

I eat tortilla chips like crazy since I have been such a grazer! And throwing stuff in corn tortillas makes me feel a little more normal!

I'm drinking lots of water with fresh lemon in it - seems to curb my hunger quite a bit (and I never drank water before, so that is a big change for me as well).

Good luck!!

[scoutfinch]

Laurie and Polly:

Thanks for all the info and encouragement!

-Scout

[tex]

Hi Scout,

Welcome to our internet family. I see that your questions have already been answered, and you're off to a good start on getting your life back from this disease, so I'll just add that the safest way to avoid gluten, dairy, soy, etc., is to do your own cooking, and I'd like to point out that Dee, who is a professional chef who has MC, has assembled several hundred gourmet quality recipes, that are free of gluten, dairy, and soy, and you can find them here:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7

Again, welcome aboard.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

G'day Scout - greetings from Oz.

to answer your questions, as to what to elminate everyone is different. Most of the USA based people have done the entorlab testing and that is the quickest way to find out what is allowable and what is banned.

I can tolerate coffee no probs, and have this with a small amount of lactose free milk. (so far so good)

as Polly said re the stop gaps, I have used loperamide for days when i have important meetings at work etc. I only do this if i really really have to, as i find it takes 3 days for my body to get back to normal (what ever normal is!)

nutritional staples, my diet at the moment is: -

breakfast: savory GF/YF/DF muffins with sweet potato
apple and blackcurrent juice
coffee with lactose free milk

snack: GF/YF crackers coffee with lactose free milk
lunch: gooey rice with stewed meat
snack: jelly
dinner: gooey rice or mashed potato with chicken or salmon

Back up snacks: GF/DF cereal


i am still having minor flares so i am keeping the diet pretty basic until the inflammation settles down.
i am sticking with low fibre type foods (hence the clear juice)

it doesnt sound very healthy , at the moment my main aim is to not stress out my digestion system and stop incidence of flares.

[Gloria]

If you want to know immediately any and all food intolerances, you can send a stool sample to enterolab (see Dr. Fine's website at www.enterolab.com.)

We probably should clarify that for most people, Enterolab will determine the most common food intolerances. For those of us with multiple intolerances, ie., double DQ1 genes, the Enterolab is a starting point for determining foods to eliminate. Fortunately, only a small percentage of persons with MC have double DQ1 genes.

Gloria

[Gabes-Apg]

Gloria
you are beautifully unique!

[Gloria]

HAHA. I'm not feeling very special right now. DD's toilet just overflowed when I flushed it. She said it can't handle a lot of toilet paper. I'm in the right place at the wrong time.

Gloria

[Gabes-Apg]

mmmm is that as bad as forgetting to replace the empty roll and having a bit of D attack
I did the homer simpson "doh" when that happened

[Polly]

Mornin' All,

Hi Gloria! I am so happy to hear that you are making progress determining your intolerances. It is not an easy task for the few of us with double DQ1 genes, that's for sure. And thanks for clarifying my earlier statement. Dr. Fine offers tests for gluten, casein, yeast, chicken egg, and soy intolerances. These happen to be the main problem foods for the majority of MCers, as you noted, but, of course, there are many additional foods that can give us problems, depending upon the individual. Early on here I had noticed that some who baked using gluten flour substitutes (like amaranth, millet, tapioca) reacted to them, too.

I don't know if everyone knows that the idea to use the caveman diet did not originate with Dr. Fine. It was discovered by some members here, who found that they were able to go into remission more quickly by adopting this diet. Meat/fowl/fish have generally been tolerated by most, but not all. If you read the section on nutrition on Dr. Fine's website, you will see that he recommends eating NO animal protein or grains of any kind. No eggs either. He believes diet should be based upon only fruits, veggies, and nuts. That is quite a restrictive diet, but he believes it is the least immunogenic one.

The good news is that once remission has been obtained and the gut has had a chance to heal, some "problem" foods can again be tolerated. A case in point - initially I could not tolerate citrus or tomatoes and other nightshades; however I now can. I can also do corn on an infrequent basis. (I'm afraid to try anything else! - why argue with sucess, right?)

Love,

Polly