Rotation Diet

[cait]

I'm working with a nutritionist due to ongoing fatigue and other symptoms after removing all of my obvious triggers. I've been gluten-free since May, and removed corn, soy, and dairy after doing an elimination diet this fall. Haven't trialed oats yet since I suspect it wouldn't go well. Was vegetarian until fall, when it became clear I needed to add in other protein sources, and still haven't added in red meat. Not sure I can go there yet, and not sure how my body would react since I haven't had red meat in about 20 years. In the last consult, my nutritionist suggested doing a rotation diet to keep me from developing issues with other foods. How likely is this? I'm not anxious to make food any more complicated than it already is, but obviously I don't want to add to the list of foods I can't tolerate. I was sort of hoping that over time I could add things in rather than taking more away. Any opinions/experiences?

[cahill]

I agree with your nutritionist,Rotating foods especially while healing would be most helpful.At one point my safe food list was very ,very short

With healing,I have over time been able to add back many foods and most others I can tolerate as long as I rotate them.

Rotating foods like nightshades,corn and legumes is the only way I can tolerate them.

I was vegan for most of my adult life.I started having issues with legumes and sea food was out of the question (because of my DH) so I also had to add meat sources of protein to my diet. I find that ground meats are much easier for me to swallow and digest than meats that are not ground.

[Newbee]

I've read that doing a rotation diet is a good idea as you can develop other food intolerances if you eat them regularly. I've thought about trying this diet but can't figure out how to make it work just preparing food for one person. Good for you for taking so many other things out of your diet besides gluten. I want to try that eventually.

[mushroom]

I am one who should have rotated but didn't. I lost many more foods than the gluten, soy and corn that I started with because of this, particularly when I quit nightshades for inflammatory reasons. Ate too many green beans and peas, and too much citrus. I am planning on trialling some of those foods this summer.

I ate out at a gluten free lunch prepared in a house normally occupied by gluten eaters (the house-sitter was hosting), and got zapped. I am still trying to figure if it was a hidden bad ingredient for me or if it was a gluten pan or utensil that got me. There was a 'mystery" quiche that might have been the problem and it makes me concerned about my planned trial

[missy'smom]

I am one who benefits from rotation. It is not a situation where you have to lose the foods you have now. You can keep all that you tolerate now AND add some back. There are templates/papers that you can fill in to help keep track, otherwise I could never if I didn't have it all written down.

I should have rotated sooner, but I didn't know about it. I lost SO many foods. I don't know that we all need to, but some of us do need rotation. You are lucky to have someone who will help you and work with you on it. It is not the easiest thing so it is good to have help. But I came to it with a considerable list of avoids to start with so I struggled emotionally. I put myself on one after my allergist told me he could do no more for me and I was miserable. But I am on the lookout for someone who can help me get back on one again because I think I still need to be. I developed a few more allergies and got overwhelmed and life got in the way and I dropped it. I'd do better if I could check in with someone from time to time.

I've been a veggie wannabe my whole life but I need the meat in my diet. I too do better with ground meats, poultry and fish. If you increase it slowly and consciously, you may do well. That's what I did. It really helped with my blood sugar, weight and overall well being. I still don't love it, but my body clearly works better with it so I made my peace with what forms I could tolerate.

[Juliebove]

My daughter and I did the rotation diet with some foods. It is tough. The worst part is that other people don't understand it. They would make fun of is. They would say things like, "Is this a dairy day?" They couldn't understand why we could eat dairy on some days and not others. And why we couldn't make exceptions for holidays. In the end, we both realized that we were sneaking dairy on other days and we weren't getting sick from it.

That being said, I do try to give us as much variety as I can with our meals. I try not to make the same things too often in one week.

It's especially tough for me because I am one of those people who is content to eat the same things day after day. But I know that I can't do that.

When my daughter was diagnosed with the IgG peanut allergy, she switched to almond butter. Now she has an IgG allergy to almonds. So I do know first hand that it doesn't work to eat like I would.

[cait]

Sigh. You all make a good case for it. As soon as we figure out how to do it, I will. I won't like it though. So there!

This seems to be bringing up all of the rage I didn't have about giving up gluten and other foods as I discovered additional issues. I've already had to cut out so many of the things I liked that the idea of not being able to have the few things I do still enjoy whenever I want them makes me furious. And it's already so hard to eat that complicating it further just makes me want to cry. I'll get over it.

[T.H.]

  On 2/17/2012 at 2:27 AM, cait said:

...I've already had to cut out so many of the things I liked that the idea of not being able to have the few things I do still enjoy whenever I want them makes me furious. And it's already so hard to eat that complicating it further just makes me want to cry. I'll get over it.

A lot of us go through a grieving process (or 'rage' process, heh), especially when we start losing a lot more foods than just gluten. People who don't have to do that frequently don't 'get' it.

It's hard. It's something we will have to confront many times a day, on a daily basis, for as long as this lasts (some of it forever). And it affects social situations, our cooking, our tastes, our sense of comfort - it IS a loss of something that usually matters to us, so I really think it's perfectly justified to feel upset about it.

I know I had a few crying jags here and there over foods I had to stop eating, usually on a really crappy day. But they happen a lot less now (it's been a little over 2 years for me, now). I decided I would just learn to cook awesome food that didn't use these ingredients - uh, yeah, that still needs a little work, LOL. But it feels more hopeful now, at least, rather than overwhelming and upsetting.

Re: the rotation diet - I think a challenging part of it is that it's hard to tell if you need one until it's too late, and you've just lost a food. So the better safe than sorry schtick definitely applies. I went on a rotation diet, too, but had so many problems with foods and getting sick from them that I literally got down to a handful of foods I could eat. I ate the same foods, for every meal, for 8 months - never became allergic to a single one of them.

But then with some new foods I added from food families I had allergies in, I slowly became allergic to the entire food family. So the rotation diet wasn't needed for me for my basic foods, but perhaps if I had not been trying foods in that one family so frequently, I might have avoided increasing my allergies there. Just no way to tell, I don't think.

[mushroom]

My personal opinion (and perhaps experience, it's hard to say) is that if you react to a food in one food family, and then another food in that same family, it's best to cut out the whole family right away, and avoid aggravating your body with all the other family members. I think you will heal more quickly and possibly regain that family of foods more quickly (if you are going to be able to regain them, that is - some of them might be permanent ) I am hopeful of regaining legumes and citrus, and am going to try some frresh homegrown tomatoes this summer. I really miss potatotes and all the yummy dishes you can create with them, but they can wait..... they gave me hives, and tomatoes killed me in other ways so I didn't even test what eggplant did to me after that discovery. That's still to come sometime in the futuer. And when I do, it won't be more often than every 4-5 days.