Conflicting advise

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:38 pm

I went to my acupuncturist today and she advised me not to drink smoothies and stay away from cold foods for now. I am on my 9th day of what I call pretty normal. The other day I made a smoothie with frozen bananas, strawberries, and rice milk. I just did those to start with. She also told me she had a terrible time with rice milk. My nutritionist told me the same thing. I also baked some apples and sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon and was advised that apples are hard to digest. Any advise on this? I am pretty sure I'm dairy intolerant and trying to add different things into my diet. I've been so long without fruit and not many veggies either. Some well cooked, but I'm almost afraid to try anything new. She suggested that I wait until summer and only eat foods that are in season. I have put rice milk in some muffins and waffles that I made and had no issues. I don't think I had an issue with the smoothie either. I want to eventually add flax seed oil and protein powder to my smoothie.

Nancy

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:45 pm

Nancy I think you are the right track in just listening to your body. I have found that there is a lot of good advice out there but in the end you just have to see how well you tolerate it.

I have found that trying one ingredient at a time and noting the result is the best guide for dealing with mc

Hang in there Nancy you are on the right track and this will probably not be the last time advice appears to conflict.

Joe

connie · Post by **connie** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:23 pm

Nancy,
I think Joe gave you some great advice about listening to your body. If you are feeling better it seems like you are going in the right direction.

Everyone has advice and their intentions are good but they don't live with our bodies everyday and most people don't know anything about MC.

I'm glad you are making some progress.
Connie

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:04 pm

I have heard that rice milk can have a laxative effect, but I haven't tested that theory. Many here go for almond milks or coconut milks instead, but we all take a chance consuming products that are so processed, with emulsifiers added, etc. My fav is So Delicious Coconut Milk but I'm not sure it agrees with me 100%. Regarding apples, they are correct about raw apples, especially if they are eaten with the peel on. I think cooking apples makes them much easier to digest, so enjoy your treat. You deserve it!

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:08 am

Well, here it is the next day and I've been in the bathroom about 7 times and it's anly 8:00 a.m. Not sure now which it is that triggered this event. Joe, I better be more careful about trying more than one thing at a time like you suggest. But, it's hard making a smoothie with just milk, or just fruit. I have had the apples (peeled and cooked till soft) before and didn't seem to have a problem with it. So, it may have been the rice milk. Not sure about the strawberries or bananas. Next I will probably try the coconut milk. I tried the almond milk and didn't care for that at all.

Nancy

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:34 am

Hi Nancy,

Bummer about the reaction.

I agree with the others. Since learning about MRT and seeing the amazing individual differences in food reactions, I don't believe we can ever again "assume" what someone may or may not react to. Let me clarify that........ gluten, dairy, and soy can be assumed to be problems for many MCers - but beyond that, it's anyone's guess. Are you avoiding those "big 3"? That would be the first place to start IMHO.

Let me give you an example. The only "milk" I can tolerate is pure coconut milk (I will get sick if it contains guar or xanthan gum). I found out on MRT that I am sensitive to almonds and white potatoes, so milks made from them are a no-go. I also could never find a rice milk I could tolerate, even though I can eat plain rice. Too many additives, I guess, especially carrageenan, which I know I react to. Remember, anything processed can be a problem. You might try making your own rice milk - I think Gloria and Dee have recipes in the Kitchen.

I hope the flare is short-lived.

Love,

Polly

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:01 am

Polly,
I have not stayed away from gluten yet, or I should say I did for a few weeks, but there was no change at all until I totally gave up dairy. Then things got rather perfect for a couple of weeks. When I was off the gluten I was getting much weaker and loosing so much weight, I was down to 102 lbs. I guess I'm not good at this, but better learn fast or there will be nothing left to me. I am waiting for tests to come back from Enterolab, which should take another two weeks. I stay away from soy, but obviously the rice milk may be a problem.

Nancy

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:17 am

Hi again Nancy,

I forgot you are awaiting enterolab tests.....that's great! You will have some answers. I would be quite aurprised if you can tolerate gluten - it has been a no-no for about 99 % of us, I'd guess.

If you ARE sensitive to gluten, then eating it could certainly cause continual weight loss. Gluten damages the area of the small intestine where nutrients are absorbed. Have you tried any other hi-cal foods besides grains? Like olives, avocado, sweet potatoes, etc.

Let's hope you get your results SOON! I'll be interested to hear about them.

Polly

irisheyes13 · Post by **irisheyes13** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:40 am

Hi Nancy,

Sorry to hear about your set back.

It can be so frustrating when you are trying so hard and sniff a bit of success and then find yourself in misery again. I've been right there with you over the past several weeks. I'm sure it is not only frustrating but scary when you continue to lose weight and are constantly hungry but are afraid of what choices are safe or could land you in the bathroom in agony.

Your Enterolab results should take some of the guess work out; certainly giving you an answer with regard to gluten. Gluten seems to be a biggie for many of us. What specifically did you order? Are you being tested for soy, eggs and yeast too? That 3 weeks of waiting on the results seems to go by soooooooo slow, doesn't it?!

Are you keeping a "winning the pooh" journal? If not, maybe that could be a helpful tool to be able to look back on what could be causing set backs. The journal, in tandem with following Joe and Polly's advice with keeping with whole foods with no additives and slowly adding a new food each day seems to be the key to success with so many here...just a suggestion. Do you think you could replicate what you had eaten on a few of the days you seemed to be doing better?

I have yet to find a commercial non-dairy milk that doesn't have additives. Almond milk seems to agree with me although at times I have questioned whether I don't have a sensitivity to carrageenen as well. I may try to tackle making my own milk this weekend. Gloria has some great recipes and detailed instructions on making them.

I hope you can get out of the bathroom and start to feel a bit better today. :bigbighug:

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:42 am

I didn't know that about gluten, I mean about the absorbtion. Is there a good list out there of high calorie foods that would seem to be safe? I have eaten sweet potatoes and they didn't seem to agree with me, but it may have been something else and not the potato.

Nancy

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:08 am

Hi Kelly,
I only ordered the gluten and dairy tests. Eggs seem to be my comfort food. I can certainly replicate the foods I ate on the good days because they were always the same - potatoes, pasta, eggs, beef, chicken, turkey, etc. This happened only after the smoothie so I'm thinking it may be the rice milk. It could also have been the banana (only three 3" chunks) and a handful of frozen strawberries.??? That was the only different thing I ate - Oh, a handful or so of potato chips too.

Nancy

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:06 am

Nancy,
I forgot to mention that I seem to have trouble with strawberries. I think it's the acid, but it may be the little seeds or something else about them.

irisheyes13 · Post by **irisheyes13** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:14 am

Nancy,

I hadn't initially ordered the additional testing either and I called and added it...don't ask me why. I'm glad I did however because I never suspected eggs at all. They were a comfort food for me as well and a regular "go-to" food. I mourned giving up eggs but have. I'm not suggesting that you are sensitive to them but wanted you to know that it could be a possibility.

It certainly sounds like it could be the rice milk. Which rice milk are you using and what are the listed ingredients/additives? Same thing for the potato chips. I probably shouldn't be making suggestions to you though because I continue to have set backs as well. It really is a frustrating process but I'm attempting to take it slow and steady. I have found that I get a bit cheeky as soon as I start to feel better and have sabotaged myself by adding more than one new food in on the same day and pay the price.

For your sanity and your belly, I would try to go back to what was working and if you can get back on track and maybe try to add only one of the suspect foods in and wait and see how you handle it. I don't see why you couldn't make a smoothie that would agree with you once you figured out safe ingredients one at a time.

Have you tried any nut butters yet? I have had success with stopping the weight loss and I feel like almond butter has helped because it is high in calories. I don't want to suggest anything that might further derail you however. Hang in there!

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:56 am

Kelly,
A lot of good suggestions. I have not tried nut butter except peanut butter. Probably not good huh? What do you put the nut butters on if you don't eat bread or toast? Please bear with me, I feel like I'm in the 1st grade again. Do you take any medication?

Which other tests did you add, just the eggs?

The rice milk is Rice Dream and it has brown rice (partially milled), oleic safflower oil and/or canola oil. Vanilla flavoring.

irisheyes13 · Post by **irisheyes13** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:12 pm

Nancy,

No worries-I'm right there with you in first grade.

I thought I had been doing so good with keeping soy out of my diet and here I was taking my fish oil every day and it had soybean oil in it. I didn't catch it until about a month ago and thought I had checked all my supplements thoroughly.

I know that peanuts are considered a legume and therefore avoided by many here. I haven't tried peanut butter in the last three months so I can't help there. I frequently will just eat almond butter on a spoon when I'm hungry and on the fly. I have individual serving size packets of Justin's almond butter and will eat it right out of the packet:) I have it with a banana for breakfast sometimes too. I used to eat it on rice cakes, rice crackers and even some Udi's GF bread(prior to finding out I couldn't have eggs or yeast) but since I recently suspected rice as a problem, haven't been doing that. I think someone (Pat perhaps) mentioned mixing it into her hot quinoa cereal as a way to add calories and flavor. I have not tried that yet. Justin's also makes a really yummy chocolate hazelnut butter that is so good but I'm holding off adding it back in just yet. It's like Nutella only better IMHO.

I'm not taking any medications for my MC because I had adverse reactions to everything I tried. I'm attempting do this via diet alone.

I know Rice Dream has had lots of controversy here as well as other boards. On the surface it seems like it should be fine based on the few ingredients listed but there have been many who have had tummy trouble with it. The most recent thread is here and within this thread Tex points to an older thread discussing it earlier.

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... am&start=0

Do you have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods nearby? I know they each carry store brands of rice milk that may settle better for you. It's tough to find any commercial brands that don't have additives or stabilizers in them.