Elimination Or Cave Man Diet

[jenngolightly]

I'm sure someone has posted information about how to do an elimination diet somewhere on this forum. I've done a little research, but can't find helpful resources on this forum by myself.

I went to an allergist for food allergy testing, and ended up with invalid skin and blood tests (I had a negative reaction to pure histamine, so doc says all tests are invalid). The allergist suggested the elimination diet, but there are so many variations on the Internet, I was hoping to get suggestions here. If you could just post some links to previous posts, that would be great. I don't want anyone to go to the trouble of repeating the information that's already been posted.

Note - I have Celiac and am strictly gluten-free. I am looking for other intolerance/allergies that are still making me sick.

Thanks.

[chasbari]

Google Loren Cordain, PhD and you will find information on his take on the paleo diet. There are others as well. As for me, I just stick with fruits, non legume veggies, no nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and tobacco because of my RA) and meat and eggs. I know he recommends staying away from eggs but they are a cheap source of protein for me and I have responded well to them. I tried things like rice, corn and quinoa and had disastrous problems with all of them so I stick to a very basic diet that has worked well for me for the better part of a year and a half now. I stick as closely as I can to whole foods and fresh produce with my concession being frozen if I can't get fresh. Also, search here for SCD or specific carbohydrate diet and you will find discussion aplenty. Oh, I cut out dairy and soy completely. I tried goats milk yogurt and that seemed to be ok for awhile until I tried to reintroduce some hard dairy cheese (parmegian) which caused me to have a bad reaction to the GM yogurt as a result. Drat! I tell people if I can pick it, peel it, steam it or grill it chances are I can eat it.

[missy'smom]

I am reading abook that I've found to be helpful. Food Allergies and Intolerances by Jonathan Brostoff M.D. and Linda Gamlin.

[GF Traveling Dude]

Just use your common sense and create your own diet. Tomorrow, eat only potato. Maybe do it for two days. Feel okay? Then on the third day add hamburger. After 4 days, if you feel okay, add eggs. Feel sick suddenly? Then stop eating the eggs. Continue adding foods like this. And only add none processed, no preservative, no additive foods. If you were to add in Rice Chex on Day 6 and suddenly get sick then who in the world can say for sure which ingredient made you sick? You'll just end up speculating about this or that ingredient, or whether it contained gluten. Stick to fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat, and potato initially. Do not drink anything else but water for two weeks. Nobody ever needed tea, sprite or coffee to survive.

[Wolicki]

I would add that nightshades are problems for many here, so be wary when eating them,

[gf-soph]

Here in Australia there is a very thorough elimination diet developed by the allergy unti at the RPA (Royal prince alfred hospital). It is extrememly thorough. There is a handbook for the diet, but not sure how much online. You can search failsafe diet i think which has food listings for Australia, or RPA elimination diet.

[dilettantesteph]

Are you sure that you are strictly gluten free? You could try a no grain, no processed food diet and see what happens.

[jenngolightly]

  On 4/7/2010 at 9:12 PM, chasbari said:

I tell people if I can pick it, peel it, steam it or grill it chances are I can eat it.

Great motto! Do you marinate your food? How about salt and pepper?

[jenngolightly]

  On 4/7/2010 at 11:35 PM, missy said:

I am reading abook that I've found to be helpful. Food Allergies and Intolerances by Jonathan Brostoff M.D. and Linda Gamlin.

Thanks for the book suggestion. I'll check my library.

[newgfcali]

There's a very simple elimination diet that starts with lamb and pears. If you live in the US, these two items are rarely eaten, or at least more rare than say beef and apples. You start with the lamb and pears and continue eating just those two things until you feel pretty good. Then you add one thing for a week. If you're well for that week, you add another the next week, and so on. It's a tremendously slow process and requires some nutritional supervision, as you're not going to get complete nutrition from such a restrictive diet. But as long as you rigidly adhere to the diet, you should find all of your intolerances. It's very close to what GFtraveling dude describes and is mentioned in the book Missy's mom suggested.

[GF Traveling Dude]

  On 4/8/2010 at 11:16 PM, newgfcali said:

There's a very simple elimination diet that starts with lamb and pears. If you live in the US, these two items are rarely eaten, or at least more rare than say beef and apples. You start with the lamb and pears and continue eating just those two things until you feel pretty good. Then you add one thing for a week. If you're well for that week, you add another the next week, and so on. It's a tremendously slow process and requires some nutritional supervision, as you're not going to get complete nutrition from such a restrictive diet. But as long as you rigidly adhere to the diet, you should find all of your intolerances. It's very close to what GFtraveling dude describes and is mentioned in the book Missy's mom suggested.

I'd like to add to this and my post that it is critical that you not cook the lamb in butter, add sauce to the lamb, or buy seasoned lamb. Everything has to be prepared perfectly plain for you to understand what you are allergic too. That means no seasoning, olive oil, butter or pan spray, etc. Also, I personally would veto high fat meats to start. I'm not sure where lamb stands, but I would pick the leanest lamb you can find; lambsteaks perhaps. The reason is that many people with stomach disorders have some kind of fat malabsorption issue, so fatty meats will screw with you.

[jenngolightly]

Thank you all for your suggestions. It's still overwhelming to have so many to select from. Although they all sound severe, I'm sick of being sick. I had to take 2 days off work this week because I feel so crappy. Yes, I'm positive I'm not getting glutened from anywhere. I think strawberries are bad... and nightshades... I think there are multiple foods contributing to my ongoing health issues. Luckily, when I get sick from these other foods my symptoms aren't as extreme as when I eat gluten. Still, always feeling sick is really wearing me down.

I truly appreciate this forum and everyone who responded. The knowledge you all have is appreciated very much.

Jenn