EnteroLab part deux

[Cynthia]

So I had really hoped that either eggs or soy was going to come back ok, to give me better food options. I was really shocked at the soy number, as I don’t eat soy intentionally, however it is in my K2. And I have been lately using a yummy peanut oil for some cooking. I don’t eat peanut butter. Oh and I discovered a body lotion I was using has soy oil in it! So out goes the K2 from natto and I ordered a liquid one, no soy. And no more peanut oil. And so much for the body lotion. And I phoned Viva naturals to confirm the vitamin E in the caps was from sunflower, not soy. I had also been eating Rice Chex for the last month (prior to that I never ate cereal) and there is no doubt soy in there (tocopherols). So I have traded that out for a rice cereal that doesn’t list tocopherols as an ingredient but says may contain soy ( think because it is made in the same plant with others). And the one little treat of a gf honey graham with chocolate on top...yup...full of soy!

Avoiding soy is like trying to hit a moving target blindfolded! And Dr. Mercola’s headline this morning was something like soy! Worse than sugar! Oh my.
I have to admit, I feel quite defeated at times, since I got these results late Saturday night. Seems I just keep throwing food out, and now beauty products, and have laid down a small fortune to try outfit my kitchen with friendly choices. I know things will get better and I am not a quitter. And I know my results could have been a lot worse! But in my, now other life, I was a real foodie and quite a good cook. I cooked for everyone, my sister when she was really sick, and my Mom and Dad who are both not doing well, and I always hosted big family dinners when family came to town. My dining room table was the gathering spot and I provided the feast every time. This is quite an adjustment.
Ok enough wallowing. I do have a couple of questions.

I am assuming that my fat score is good so I am absorbing nutrients just fine (I am one of the few who is hoping that getting inflammation down will magically erase about 25lbs )

For the time being it looks like the only thing I have to make sure to avoid in the allergenic foods, is oats, and then beef and rice I am thinking I should not rely too heavily on at first? I do eat a lot of rice but no beef. I am not that fond of potatoes or sweet potatoes but I guess a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Will I eventually get to a place where I can not worry about rice and beef at all?

And aside from gluten, as the other 3 big ones have a shorter half life in the system, is it possible that at some point I will not have to be as vigilant about soy (even tho it is evil), and if I have read correctly do some people gain the ability to eat eggs (I think some said they can handle in baked foods after a time) and dairy (I don’t care if I ever have milk again but I sure did like cheese)?

Lots of questions and I thank everyone who has taken time for me so far. I feel quite needy, haha, I am sure I will get my legs under me soon.

[tex]

I'm unsure whether your rice tolerance will improve in the future, but I was eventually able to eat corn, again, after a year or so of healing. Beef still bothers me though, after 15 years. I was able to develop a tolerance for dairy products (no GI issues), but when I began to develop osteoarthritis, an EnteroLab test showed that I was producing antibodies to casein, so I had to give up dairy products again.

Yes, many of us are able to eventually eat chicken eggs (you might be able to eat duck eggs now), but soy sensitivities seem to be very persistent. I'm not aware of anyone who has been able to add soy back into their diet.

Just because we have food sensitivities, doesn't mean that we have to eat bland, simple foods all our life. That only applies to our recovery diet. After we heal long enough, if we heal well, we can enjoy spicy foods again. And there are a lot of good, tasty recipes for people with food sensitivities. If you dig down into Dee's Kitchen, for example, you can find many interesting recipes. Dee hasn't posted in many years, but she listed a lot of original recipes (with instructions for modifying ingredients if necessary), during the years while she was active here. Many of the best recipes that are safe for us also taste great to people who don't have digestive issues.

I hope this helps.

Tex

[Cynthia]

Thanks Tex,
That does give me hope. I feel that I have rebounded quite nicely after a month or so of gf, df, ef and so maybe I am getting some good healing already. I do realize it takes a really long time. Some things are hard for me to figure out, as they don’t seem to produce automatic intestinal problems. For example, as much rice as I have been eating I have gotten to a Norman stage within three weeks, and I don’t suffer cramping (mostly)or gas anymore ( I always thought having a lot of gas after eating dinner was normal until I didn’t experience it anymore!)
I know that giving up dairy has been great in that I don’t wake up choking anymore from post nasal drip or whatever that was. So seeing some good improvements.
The soy is a rough one! I will just have to do my very best on that one.
I live on the ocean and know a fisherman so fish and fresh prawns are easy for me to get and free range turkeys are close by too. So I am very fortunate there.
And I am an imaginative cook and have experience with gf cooking so that is a bonus too. Just a big learning curve right now with all the other no no’s.
I am already looking at recipes to make mayonnaise with hard boiled yolks
I really appreciate all your time and advice!

[Gabes-Apg]

Soy appears hard to avoid at first, but if you embrace whole foods eating plan and avoid processed foods it is easy peasy.

When I went soy free 10 years ago it was way way harder than current day.

Same for bathroom products/make up etc. once you have daily staples sorted, it is no longer an issue.

8 years ago, I used to react worse to soy than gluten. Now with healing, good nutritional balance, low inflammation lifestyle etc, better detox system etc, now if I eat out and there is soy contamination I don't react.

The main thing is not to 'freak out' about the changes.
Don't focus on what you can't have,
Also, keep in ind we can't avoid every trigger 100%, every minute of the day. Remission and living life is the balance of avoiding as many triggers most of the while still living life.

Times like this, read the posts in the success stories area, see what others have done.
I can assure you the food changes, the lifestyle changes are worth the mental and emotional energy!, health and life with minimal symptoms is worth it!!!

[Cynthia]

Thanks Gabes!

The soy number just really surprised me as I would have previously self described myself as a very healthy whole foods eater. To the point where people used to make fun that everything I ate pretty much was from scratch.

It is a good thing that I have mostly avoided processed foods forever, wasn’t until I started putting these dietary changes in place that I started eating some boxed foods but I will be getting better at that as time goes by I am sure. Overwhelming at first, but as everything, eventually it turns into automatic habits. I’ll get there!

I can imagine learning how to and what to eat 10 years ago would have been a real struggle. And you must have been very tenacious to figure it all out!

The best ever takeaway from your message

[Also, keep in ind we can't avoid every trigger 100%, every minute of the day. Remission and living life is the balance of avoiding as many triggers most of the while still living life. ]

I am a type A personality as I have learned many of us are. I want to learn everything and attack everything 100% perfectly. In real life I always been “the fixer”. Of course I know that 100% perfect is not how it works in real life and MC is a great teacher!

I will slowly get to the rest of getting rid of all the soy in the various kitchen and bathroom cupboards, but not going to stress myself entirely doing so. The switch to gf, df, ef was pretty major in itself and taking awhile to settle into that routine.

If you don’t mind me asking, when you were reacting to soy, what were the symptoms? I am still having trouble figuring some of that out as I reached the Norman stage pretty fast this time and besides gluten and dairy, the rest isn’t as obvious at all. My home made chicken soup (it’s chicken stock but with turkey meat) can make me feel bloated, I have been eating mostly turkey now. And I think zucchini depending on the day can make me rumbly, but nothing else is outstanding.

Thanks for taking the time out of your extremely busy schedule to talk to me about this. I have read many of your posts and you are one of the pillars of this site. It was really touching to see how many people worried after you when you hadn’t posted for awhile [/quote]

[Cynthia]

I see you are a fan of Dave Asprey, Mr Bulletproof . He lives here on Vancouver Island, after moving from the SAN Francisco Bay Area, and has the quite the bulletproof following here. He has a lot of interesting information.

I like to follow a lot of the alternative guys, they have some great insights where mainstream medical lets us down. A lot of them also went down the path from having issues themselves and taking matters into their own hands. Very inspiring!

[Gabes-Apg]

For the Soy
My main symptom was the urgent diarrhoea. (Battery acid in early days and mc mud in later years)

Bloating/heartburn/fatigue/joint pain.

With my gut healing, my main symptoms now are fatigue, joint pain, headache. Only if it is large dose of trigger food does the mc mud appear.

I love Dave Asprey as he has sharied his knowledge on the podcasts for free for years. He has invested millions into self testing various aspects of optimising health. Yes he writes books for money, but the info in those podcasts is free, was like a guide map for surviving modern life. It also reiterated that health is not just about what you eat and drink, it is about air we breathe, quality of sleep, our thoughts/attitude, relationships etc.

Yep former perfectionist here, one thing you learn is that there is fixing things, and then there is healing, healing is kinda a never ending journey, never 100% complete.

[Gabes-Apg]

I tend to avoid rice, high arsenic and low nutritional benefit for the carb level

Early days of healing it worked cause it was bland, gut healing and easy.

Re the learning what to eat 10 years ago, one of the many blessings is that I am based in Australia. Our gf products are much better quality than USA. (5 parts per million compared to USA 20 parts per million)
We have abundant affordable good quality foods, (grass fed meats, free range, etc). A culture of cooking at home. We have good labelling laws that show inactive ingredients.

My thoughts on things like gluten and Soy (for everybody not just MC'ers)
The grains (all grains and majority of crops) that are farmed now, are not the same as 15, 20, 30 years ago. And processing methods of things like gluten, Soy are vastly different.
We are basically getting modified, chemical laden, shoddy processing grains and products.
The Soy used in processed foods is the waste product that bodies can not digest
40 years ago farmers would not feed this garbage to their stock!!, now they are forced to.
Chemical load and toxins in modern day lifestyle, our bodies struggle to clear them, and when there is build up we get sick.

[Cynthia]

Thanks again Gabes!

Yikes is it really 3am in Australia??? I hope not
Thanks for telling me about your soy experience. I definitely don’t react at all digestively, but have a history of chronic back and joint pain. That is actually how they found my big kidney tumour, so maybe that is where soy is attacking me. I have certainly noticed a reduction in pain since going gf, df, ef. Yay.

You really do have such better food standards in Australia. Here we are starting to see a shift in demand, more people are wanting to know where the food comes from and a lot of us do not want to eat factory farmed meat for so many reasons. So there is a major push for organic food and higher quality meats, and veggies, but we also pay a premium price for that, so for many it can be hard on the pocket book. I guess I am lucky in that my need for fancy clothes, and “stuff” is minimal so my big budget is for food.

A big yes, on your thoughts on the arsenic in rice and the grain situation on the whole. It is truly amazing what is passing for food these days, and how sick we are all getting as a result.

I too, am appreciative of Dave Asprey’s willingness to share his experiences and knowledge. I know for myself, I always put a big focus on nutrition and physical health, but never gave much attention to the emotional/stress/unhealthy relationships/ aspects. You are dead on that healing is never 100% done.

[Gabes-Apg]

Yes, 3.30am start for me
All part of my workday Morning routine to ensure daily poop happens at home not work.
Mag soak, yoga, pack lunch, have breakfast, etc etc. today was hang out washing so I have shirts for work thurs, fri. leave house by 5.45am.

[Cynthia]

WOW! I am thoroughly impressed! Have a great day and thanks again for making me part of it

[Erica P-G]

Hi Cynthia,
Your Type "A" personality caught me due to after reading a couple books there really is a TMS syndrome and you may be a perfect candidate to read those books one by Dr. John Sarno (healing back pain ....don't get caught up in the title it is broader than that) and Steve Ozanich - The Great Pain Deception (this has been an extraordinary read).

You are doing a great job! Keep up the positive outlook

[Cynthia]

Thanks Erica,

I sure will have a look.
Yes, today my type A personality had me returning some face creams and washes that I bought yesterday, and trading for the Derma E brand which is no gluten, no soy, hiking down to the butcher for a pail of duck fat and some of their turkey broth (as I don’t have any bones,( plenty of chicken and beef stock in the freezer that I made before the EnteroLab results, sigh), waiting on my order of half a turkey and gf turkey sausages from the farm, and then picked up my Costco order of almond meal and virgin coconut oil. Also picked up some organic corn thins and gave my sister all my rice thins. Then up to the post office for my new K2 drops, sans soy!
I am pretty excited about my energy level right now, I walked for about 3.5 hours today! So maybe the diet is clicking in and also the b vitamins, am doing the methyl b6,9 and 12.
All in all, a very good day, except for the pocket book!
Thanks again for the book recommendations. I know you know a lot about this, you are one of the pillars of this site for sure!

[brandy]

Hi Cynthia,
Your Type "A" personality caught me due to after reading a couple books there really is a TMS syndrome and you may be a perfect candidate to read those books one by Dr. John Sarno (healing back pain ....don't get caught up in the title it is broader than that) and Steve Ozanich - The Great Pain Deception (this has been an extraordinary read).

You are doing a great job! Keep up the positive outlook

Love, love love the Dr John Sarno Healing Back Pain. Highly recommend it and don't get caught up in the title
like Erica says. Dr. Sarno has several other books that are more general but I think his Back Pain book
is the best. Any time he has a back pain discussion replace the words with PMS syndrome.

Sarno's book has really helped me.

[Cynthia]

I was just reading a preview of that book and I like how he described anger and anxiety going together with narcissism and how that creates the perfectionist, with lots of insecurity sprinkled in. That’s me!!!