Baked Goods and Me

Discussions can be posted here about mediator release testing (MRT), as offered by Oxford Biological Technologies, in conjunction with the LEAP program, which is claimed to determine a relative level of sensitivity to various foods and chemicals by measuring an increase in the ratio of liquids to solids in a blood sample that has been exposed to a specific allergen.

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Polly
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Baked Goods and Me

Post by Polly »

Hi Buddies,

Recently I have tried a little baking - Linda's Oil Biscuits from the LEAP manual using 2 safe flours (rice and coconut) and a banana bread using rice flour. All of the ingredients in each recipe have been tested by me in the past 2 mo. and were found to be safe when eaten individually. However, I seem to be having some trouble with baked goods despite this.

The day after I eat something baked I have 2-3 poops instead of one and they become increasingly soft. I have noticed this now on 4 separate occasions. What do you think it is? The only thing I can figure is that I just can't do rice (maybe any grains?) in any amount beyond just a small portion of rice at dinner every 2nd or 3rd day. However, I do fine with rice pasta and rice tortillas. So, what do you think is different about the rice flour in home baking? Does it contain a lot more rice than those other foods? Or does something about the baking process make it different somehow (maybe make the lectins more toxic)? Also, on each occasion my tummy felt a little off for the next 12 hrs.- nothing drastic, just not perfect.

I am a little bummed because I thought I might be able to tolerate baked goods after avoiding them for so many years. Sigh. Of course, even though rice has been the only grain I've eaten for years, I always did notice that I didn't feel quite as well when I ate any significant amount of it. I had hoped that this would no longer be a problem once I had identified and eliminated my MRT reactive foods, but I guess I am one who will need to continue to be primarily paleo in the future.

Any thoughts?

Love,

Polly
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Pat
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Post by Pat »

My guess would be the baking powder necessary for baking. I know it is an ingredient for the oil biscuits.

Pat
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Post by Polly »

Pat,

Maybe so, but I thought all was OK because I used the recipe for "safe" baking powder suggested in that recipe - in my case, I used 1 part baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), 1 part rice flour, and 2 parts cream of tartar (made only from grapes, which I have had no problem tolerating in any form - fruit, wine, balsamic vinegar, etc). Hmmmmm, a mystery.

Thanks.

Polly
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Post by Joefnh »

Polly that sounds quite good, it is amazing that you had some minor problems with it. I have not noticed how many others had problems with rice?

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Post by Pat »

Joe,

As far as I know it's only you and me that have problems with rice and you didn't notice the problem. I finally did when I eliminated all grains but rice and had terrible water D. I eliminated it and went back to regular D. I was always substituting another grain though. I suspect there are more that are sensitive to rice but just don't know it yet.

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Post by Gloria »

Polly,

I'm puzzled about your reactions, too. I can only report a similar experience with buckwheat.

I had been wondering about buckwheat for a couple of years - I ate buckwheat cereal, used it in pancakes, bread, etc. But it wasn't until I had stomach gurgling all evening after I ate buckwheat muffins that I realized it was a problem. The same occurred with amaranth muffins I made. Once I totally eliminated both grains/seeds, I no longer had any problems.

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tex
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Post by tex »

Hmmmmmmm. Back when I was recovering, I used to react to various baked products which were comprised of ingredients that I "knew" to be safe. That applied to virtually all commercial mixes, and it also applied to many made-from-scratch items. Sooooooo, I stopped eating the baked products, and continued to eat the ingredients. :lol:

I have no idea why this seems to be the case, but IMO, there's something about baked goods that continues to confound us. :shrug:

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Post by mbeezie »

Polly,

I have no idea either. I don't eat many baked goods either becasue I always feel bloated afterwards.

Mary Beth
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Post by Matthew »

Since August of 2004 I have not eaten any grain at all. Including rice.

Shortly after making my discovery of any grains causing me problems, including rice, I mailed to Dr. fine about it. He was highly complementary, said I was way , way ahead of the learning curve and that.......

“You are oh so wise. Very rare is it for a person to see such truth so fast. You will feel even better as time goes on. I have done the same thing.
I am proud of you. Be proud of yourself “

Eight years ago.

Needless to say i shed a few tears after reading his post .

My experiment with long cooked “sticky’ rice that I asked about in a different post some weeks ago about kinds of rice was not a success but not a disaster. It is absolutely clear to me that I react to rice. Much the same way you do Polly, If not more so. Nothing else in my diet had changed.

It is rare for me to have any symptoms at all. For all you struggling it is possible to come to some kind of equilibrium.

I am kind of pushing the envelope here in that I have been asked by several long time members to quit talking about a grain free diet and my “extremely healthy life stile”

So I will shut up and truly hope that I have not offended anyone and this may be of some help to those still discovering.

Love

Matthew

P.S. In deference to those that are offended by my comments about a grain free diet you might just PM me. Just keep In mind that it is rare for me to turn on my computer for days at a time let alone look in. I work in front of a bench not the computer.

This is such a great group that i hate to think that i offended any one or myself since i must have crossed some boundry i knew nothing about.
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Post by mbeezie »

Oh Matthew, hopefully no one was offended. I also feel at my best when I eat no grains, but I do find it difficult to adhere to. When I met Dr, Fine I admired him greatly for his ability to eat so low on the food chain . . . .really he just eats veggies, fruits and nuts. And I admire you for your ability to follow a grain free diet. I think if I did not cook for my family it would be much easier for me to avoid grains, but since I feed an 11 year old (currently in a gorwth spurt) and we eat as a family, it's nearly impossible to be so strict with it.

Love,

Mary Beth
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Post by sarkin »

I believe I am too new in the process to know for sure or to interpret accurately...but it seems to me that I feel better on the days when I avoid rice as well. I don't know whether that might change when I more thoroughly stabilize my eating and my recovery from the recent ferocious D, but for now I think I will have rice infrequently rather than daily, as I was a week or so doing a week or so ago. And I think I'll stay away from my beloved quinoa for at least a few weeks, too, before a cautious retrial. (I'm guessing by then, I'll have settled into a good routine without it.)

Sara
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Post by Pat »

So Matthew,

Do you consider Quinoa a grain? Do you avoid it too? I've seen it called a grain, Mary Beth calls it a seed.

Pat
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Post by ant »

Dear Matthew,

This is an important post and thanks for bringing up the subject.

I am currently relying on rice. But I am also reliant on Entocort. If I gave up rice could I also give up Entocort and have a life?

I will try and figure this out.....

Best, ant
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Post by sarkin »

Matthew, I'm glad you raised this as well. I had been considering at least a temporary rice-free addition to my "-free" list, and I'm glad I did.

Pat, regarding quinoa - some people call it a 'pseudograin' as you may already know. I am certain I had trouble with it in the first week or two of this recent flare, but I also was having trouble with air and water at that point. My inclination is to leave it out for now. It is a seed of a non-cereal plant in the goosefoot family, which is broad-leaved as opposed to grassy, and includes beets and spinach and amaranth. So I believe it's high in oxalates, and I just can't keep track of too many possible issues at the moment, while I'm learning the ropes.

Brendan Brazier has a book on diet with a different intent - he's an ironman competing vegan. And I am sure many of his recipes contain things that wouldn't work for at least some of us here. However, it is DF by definition, and also grain-free except for wild rice (not hard to avoid - it's so expensive, you'll never find them adding that without bragging about it!) - so also gluten-free. He does have recipes that use quinoa but I got the sense that he himself isn't eating it much. It has a lot of dietary fiber, with all those fruits/veg/seeds, definitely a concern. I will review the book, though, when I'm feeling chipper, and see if there are a couple of ideas that would translate. He makes his own energy bars, energy drinks, energy gels... and none of them are dyed bright blue, that's for sure.

Matthew, I'll be interested in what you think about quinoa. At the moment eating things that remind me of things that I'm not eating seems like a bad strategy. So I'm not eating GF breads/pastas/muffins, and it's making it much easier for me not to miss grains. In the same way that eating sweets makes people crave sweets, perhaps, and avoiding them resets the sweet-tooth to a much lower level.

Sara
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Post by Polly »

Sara,

Sounds as if you are developing a sound plan. Initially I tried GF baked goods, but after learning about the paleo diet I gave them up. I did find it easier to just cut them out. But luckily, I had never had a major sweet tooth. Have you done any reading about the paleo diet?

It is my humble opinion that those members here with serious multiple sensitivities who took the paleo diet route have done the best with regard to quicker and longer term remissions. This includes me, Matthew, moremuscle (Karen, who rarely posts any more), Mary Beth, and Joanna (harvest table). Karen was the first some years ago to go right to the paleo diet after diagnosis, and lo and behold, had an almost immediate remission, despite multiple sensitivities (I think she even had pancreatic inflammation too). We were all amazed! Her motto was "always carry a pork chop in your purse". LOL. Meaning of course, that one really has to change one's thinking with regard to paleo eating and snacks. I should PM Joanna and see if she is still paleo. She was the first one to do Entocort and diet together. When she started Entocort I believe she also started the paleo diet at the same time. If I remember correctly, she was able to discontinue the Entocort after 6 mo. and stayed in remssion on paleo diet alone - that was years ago.

I'm not telling you what to do, of course, but it seems as if your intuition is leading you in this direction, and I just wanted you to know my belief that this route has been quite successful. We don't have a lot of experience with paleo because those of us with serious, multiple sensitivities are a very small cohort of the MC community to begin with.

Love,

Polly
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