Am I Impeding My Healing by Ceasing to be a Vegetarian to Get More Protein

[Chalkie88]

Greetings to a remarkable group of people,

This is my first post.
I never had any gut issues in my life; I was an active high energy runner/cyclist/teacher/vegetarian until suddenly getting sick with explosive D, severe cramps, bloating and pain in June of 2023.

I was diagnosed with LC in July 2023 by colonoscopy. I tried to manage symptoms with lofodmap diet but it wasn’t working to bring relief. I finally saw a GI in September. I was told that “I can just live with less than 5 incidences of D a day, just manage it with Imodium” and sent away.

Symptoms got worse, so I went back to the GI in October. The GI doc put me on Budesonide with no dietary advice. I stayed on the medication as prescribed (9mg for 12 weeks then a taper). I also took Pantoprazole 40 mg and Famotidine 20 mg.

The medication and some elimination of Gluten and Dairy seemed to improve my symptoms but when I weaned off the Bud in early February, within two weeks the WD returned.

I found your site, read Tex’s book and started to examine my diet much more carefully.

I have eaten only what I thought were GF, DF, Soy free, egg free Stage One foods from January to current. However, I was eating Rice Krispies, some Ezekiel bread, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, vegan sausage (contained gluten), vegetarian burgers, but cut all these out now.

Also, in early February, I started the Pepto protocol and added psyllium and, for a month now, the WD has ceased, but my stools are still not normal. I go 1-2 a day and stools are forming but disintegrate when flushed.

Does it seem to you that despite some gluten I’ve consumed that I’m somewhat healing? I gained back the weight I lost (I’m 5’9” 130 lbs) and have some energy back.

Can you check my list of “safe” foods just to see if something jumps out that might be harmful? My list of foods for several months are:

Oatmeal(just removed 2 weeks ago per this site’s recommendation)
Rice Chex
Rice Krispies (as of today, I will cut this out as I just discovered it contains malt)
Rice Cakes
Rice (Jasmine, Basmati, Brown)
Rice pasta (white and brown)
Quinoa
GF pretzels made with rice
Sweet potatoes
Butternut squash
Zucchini (well cooked)
Red bell pepper (well cooked)
Green string beans (well cooked)
Carrots (well cooked)
White and red potatoes
Unripe bananas
Small amounts of berries occasionally
Canned pumpkin purée
Shredded coconut
Orgain vegan protein powder
Chicken broth
Almondmilk (Almondbreeze brand)
Earth Balance
Smart Balance
Olive oil
Salt/pepper
Black tea
Honey
Maple syrup
Farm fresh eggs ( just started 3 days ago)

I’m terrified to add new foods for fear of worsening symptoms, but after 8 months of eating mostly rice, sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans, I’m very concerned with the lack of protein in my diet.

Pre-diagnosis I heavily relied on dairy, nut butter, and Vegan protein powder or protein bars for my protein. I do know I was always lacking protein but I chose to ignore this. I eliminated all those items when I got sick in June.

Here are my questions for you:
As a 45 year vegetarian, I am now eating Stage One foods but no meat. I’ve read in your book, Tex, that meat/fats are the best foods for healing. Clearly, I’ve had none. Although I do see a big difference since the diet changes I did make, I know this life long disease necessitates a big move from adhering to only a plant-based, dairy diet. I’m willing to slowly add in animal products because I need more balance in my diet.

I recently added eggs (tried for 3 days) and it seems to be work ok in my system.
Does this mean I can eat them regularly?
I’m confused because you suggest cutting eggs out as many MCers don’t tolerate them. Am I making myself sicker or interfering with my healing by eating them? I know we are all different, I’m just wondering what you think.

I also wonder what safe protein powder would be best since I read the pea protein in the protein powder I’ve been using may not be tolerated.

The same question goes for adding soy, fish, chicken, turkey into my diet. I’m willing to eat these items if the protein will help me, but it seems the opposite of what you suggest in terms of removing food items.
I know your recommendation of slowly introducing new items small bits at a time for 3 days to test for safety. I’m just wondering if I have the enzymes in my system to digest these as a long time vegetarian.
What do you suggest in this case?
Do you suggest adding 1 of these food items at a time, using the 3 day rule, in order to determine if I can tolerate these protein-rich foods?

My other question is for lab testing. I want to test for food sensitivity with Enterolabs but I wonder what will show up since I haven’t had eggs/soy/meats/fish for so long.
Will I get reliable, useable information?

It seems clear that the A1/C1 tests are where I should start but I also read there is a B panel for vegetarians. Since I’m trying to switch from a strict plant-based diet, which tests do you recommend? Do you think I should wait a month or more after I’ve added more protein sources so my system has recalibrated?

I’m sorry for all these questions; I’m so confused.
I will call the lab and ask them but thought it would be helpful to get your experienced feedback.

I hope this makes sense and that you can provide me some feedback. This is a lonely, frustrating disease and I’m so grateful for your compassion and advice.

Going forward I will firmly adhere to a GF, DF, and soy free diet and finish out the Pepto routine of 8 tabs for 8 weeks by early April. I will continue to read the MC forum and newsletters and your book to learn all I can in the meantime.

Wishing you nothing but the good Grace that permeates your every response to thousands of posts.
Blessings,
Cheryl

[tex]

Hi Cheryl,

Sorry for the delayed response. I couldn't access the site for a few days. Your current diet looks pretty good, except for the low protein issue, and the Orgain vegan protein powder. I haven't checked that one specifically, but virtually every protein powder I've analyzed contains so many ingredients, that they almost surely contain multiple ingredients that most of us can't tolerate. Some of us react to chicken, but turkey for example, should be safe, unless it's been injected with a "tenderizer solution of some sort". About half of us are sensitive to chicken eggs. A few of us who are sensitive to chicken eggs can tolerate duck eggs, but that doesn't apply to everyone. White rice is safe for most of us, but it pays to minimize the amount of brown rice, because of the fiber problem.

For those of us sensitive to casein, camel milk is safe, although it is expensive. There are several camel dairies in the US, so some can probably even supply camel cheese, but I haven't verified that. As long as histamines are not a problem, how about shellfish as a source of protein? Unless we're allergic to them before acquiring MC, virtually all of us can tolerate shellfish, including shrimp, prawns, mussels, clams, oysters, squid, crabs, lobsters, etc.

Only the foods that are tested by EnteroLab commonly cause problems for MC patients. So as long as you avoid the foods for which they offer tests, your diet should be safe. For example cabrito (goat), duck, goose, quail, emu, rabbit, and all wild game meat (other than bison, which have crossbred with domestic cattle over the decades) should be safe, including venison (from deer or elk), moose, antelope, alligator, caribou, etc. These safe proteins shouldn't need any 3 day testing, because unless we have alpha gal syndrome, a.k.a. mammalian meat allergy (a tickborne disease found mostly in the southeast US), they should be safe for all of us.

Sorry if I forgot to address anything, but your post was long, and my memory is short, so if I overlooked anything, please ask again.

I hope this helps

Tex

[Erica P-G]

Hi Cheryl,

For just the next few weeks until you are done with the pepto process.....ditch the Egg and Chicken and go to Turkey only....don't add any other protein including powder.....test this as your system needs to cool off...the inflammation needs to subside more and you need a real base line for what works and you haven't hit that yet.

It takes a full week for any rogue proteins to leave the body but the gluten will give fits for up to a couple months or more depending on how much your body is reacting to it so your foods will not sit right until that balances out as well....might as well settle into a fairly safe routine and wait it out...maybe even get that Enterolab testing underway too.

A histamine regimen might help for a few days to kick some of that out of the way Allegra has been a good choice for daytime use and benedryl at night. I'd do this for a week and see if it helped bring more inflammation down quicker. You can always do this again at some point especially if you start to get mucus out of no where or unexplained itchy places on the skin while the body is detoxing the inflammation.

Good luck to you the next few weeks
Erica