C-1 test results. Just shoot me.

[C.U.B. girl]

As I have already been gluten, soy, and dairy free for years (not counting the few lapses in dairy and soy habits prior to my current flare), I took only the C-1 test panel.

The results make me want to

Mean value 11 antigenic foods: 41 Units (Normal range is less than 10 units)

Food to which there was no significant reactivity: NONE

Food to which there was some reactivity (1+): Pork, white potato

Food to which there was moderate reactivity (2+): corn, rice, beef, tuna, walnut, cashew, almond

Food to which there was significant reactivity (3+): Oat, chicken

Which means all those pots of "nourishing" chicken and beef bone broth have instead been doing more damage than good.
And eating nothing but meat to slow the D was causing more harm than helping.
And chicken is now off the menu, possibly forever…. and maybe beef as well……

And all I can think is, if I am SO reactive to SO many things, there must be a gazillion other things I'm eating that are causing issues as well. I hardly even know where to start with this…..

[tex]

Hi Cindy,

I'm sorry that the results were such bad news. At least you may be able to eat pork and white potatoes occasionally.

It's probably time to begin experimenting with lamb, turkey, venison, rabbit, duck, goose, emu, ostrich, and/or various other less-common meats. Maybe sweet potatoes, bananas, plantain, and various well-cooked vegetables will be OK, also.

Hopefully, other members who have similar food sensitivity issues will be able to offer some suggestions.

Tex

[C.U.B. girl]

I think it's the loss of chicken and beef that I feel most acutely. We have been so careful to buy only grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef (from a farm nearly 40 miles away), and clean, free-range chicken from a more local source, and to have those come back to bite me in the rear comes under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished"….

I can do without the corn, oats, tuna, and nuts (although I will miss cashews), but rice is a huge loss when you have to eat GF. I have been eating turkey (although I'm not satisfied with the grocery-store choices, since I don't know how they are raised or what they are fed), and also duck on occasion. My husband tries to score at least one deer each hunting season, so we do have venison when he's successful. Rabbit, goose, emu, and ostrich are going to be pretty hard to find in our small town, though……

Sweet potatoes and bananas seem to be OK so far, and I've been cooking with plantains, using them as a substitute for eggs in some recipes. It's just so disheartening to have the list of "bad" foods grow even longer. Right now I'm off of all:

Gluten and gluten grains
Oats
Corn
Nuts
Seeds
Legumes
Eggs
Dairy
Soy
Coffee
Tea
Sugar
Coconut
and now
Chicken
Beef
and
Rice

In the past, I've always tackled my dietary limitations with a "can-do" attitude, but I confess, at this point I'm ready to admit defeat. My husband called and asked if there was anything he could pick up at Whole Foods on his way home, and I couldn't even come up with a list…..

[tex]

Cindy,

I hear you. We all have moments or days when we feel that all our hard work is for naught, and we will never get better, but that's just part of being human and having to deal with a frustrating disease.

It's helpful to focus on what we can eat (the positive), rather than what we can't eat (the negative), because there are always many more options than we realize, if we think about it a bit.

I could tolerate chicken back when I was recovering, but beef was a problem for me. It didn't actually cause D (like most food sensitivities), but beef caused bloating, upper-body aches and pains, and headaches. Now, I can eat beef without any issues, but I avoid chicken because it tends to cause histamine problems for me.

Several members buy from online suppliers of frozen, free-range, organic meats, in order to get variety that they can't find locally.

Tex