Paging Gloria!

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Polly
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Paging Gloria!

Post by Polly »

Hi Gloria,

I decided to start a new thread to answer your questions. Re the legumes, I do have them occasionally, and it seems to be variable. The one I least tolerate seems to be chickpeas, but I do fine with pea soup. Go figure. Of course, I can't do soy, and while peanuts don't give me D, they do give me a little bit of an upset tummy right after I eat them.

Tell me again what bread you eat? I know it has yeast, which I have avoided for 9 years now (ever since my yeast test was positive with Dr. Fine). I'm thinking of trying it on a rotating basis. It would be so convenient to have a piece of toast for breakfast now and then.

I haven't tried chocolate for ages, but I'm thinking that maybe I've never tried any without soy lecithin. Or, as time goes on, I am realizing that it may actually be SUGAR that contributes majorly to problems. Dr. Fine says that sugar feeds the "bad" bacteria in the gut and causes them to overgrow. I really believe that this bad bacteria thing is my major problem (and probably why Cipro works so well at regulating my gut). I just finished another course of Cipro a few weeks ago for a sinus infection. For a few weeks prior, I had been eating a little pure maple sugar candy daily (one or two measly pieces) and I was experiencing increasing D, which stopped immediately with the Cipro. I have stopped all sugar now and have perfect BMs again.

What was it you said in another post? Something about intolerances vs. "irritants" (was that the word you used)? This is brilliant!!! A great word for those things like orange juice or tomatoes, etc., that aren't really major intolerances but nonetheless cause problems (and often only intermittently I think). I suspect that there are other factors that we don't understand that create a set-up for problems on one day but not the next. For example, maybe I react to O.J. on one day because I've also eaten some sugar and too much extra fiber and who knows what else? Wouldn't it be great if we could tease out these other factors?

I'm not entirely sure about the carrageenan, because it's almost always in coconut sorbet when I try it. It may be that coconut itself is an irritant for me.

Re eggs, I've been PMing Carrie about them. Rick is a double DQ1, too, and she noted that he cannot eat any commercial egg (even if it's organic) but that he can tolerate farm-fresh eggs just fine. So, I'm trying an experiment. A few days ago I went to a nearby farm and got fresh brown eggs from a heritage breed of chicken (Carrie thinks this might be a factor) that is free-range and eats at least 30% of its food in the pasture. I haven't tried them yet, because I have been very busy running around the past few days and having diarrhea would just not be convenient (we all know that routine!). I may have the chance later today. Anyway, I'll let you know the results.

It's always fun discussing these issues with you..............

Love,

Polly
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Post by Gloria »

Hi Polly,
I'm very interested in your response because we have identical genetic test results.

RE the legumes - I never liked them much, especially peas, so I'm not tempted to try most of them. I do miss the green beans, though. Do you eat them? I also don't bother with peanuts; pistachios are an adequate replacement for me. It's extremely difficult to find any cooked nuts that aren't fried in peanut oil. Does peanut oil bother you? I eat sunflower butter exclusively now. It was nice to eat hummus as a cheese replacement before I eliminated the legumes. I was eating bruschetta with olives and tomatoes (from Trader Joe's), but I had a little reaction afterward. I think it's the red pepper ingredient. I have another jar w/o the red pepper that I'll try.

I make my own bread now that I'm retired. I have a couple of different recipes that I use - I've posted one in Dee's kitchen. They are much softer than the bread in the stores, and about the same height. I used to buy Rice Almond bread made by Food Life. It has yeast, but no eggs. For the approximately three months that I completely avoided yeast, I bought a yeast-free, egg-free rice loaf made by Ener-G foods, I believe. It tasted like styrofoam or cooked rice pressed into a pan. I've never had any reactions due to eating the yeast bread and I also tested positive on the Enterolab test.

I don't notice any problem due to eating sugar and I probably eat a fair amount of it in canned fruit and my daily chocolate. :smile: The only time I'm able to purchase chocolate candy bars free of soy lethicin is during Passover. I have to sheepishly admit buying over 50 bars yesterday because they were only 50 cents each on clearance. It will be a year before I'll be able to buy more, so I'm set until then. I also bought lethicin-free kosher chocolate chips on clearance for $1.59 a bag. I melt the chips and pour them into Wilton candy molds to simulate Dove chocolate hearts. My regular store gave their remaining Passover inventory to charity, so it might be getting difficult to find them in stock now.

Yes, I think that I'm dealing more with irritants at this point than intolerances. I'm hoping that they'll eventually subside, but who knows? If I eat them on a rotation basis, I have a small reaction the next day, but then I'm back on track. I don't want to tempt fate, so I try to avoid them as much as possible. The hardest to avoid is onions because almost all of my main dishes call for them. I made pot roast yesterday for the first time w/o the onions and it tasted OK. I just have to get used to cooking without them.

Eliminating eggs has been harder in some respects than eliminating gluten. There simply isn't any substitute for them at breakfast. The only time I can adequately substitute for them in baking is in cakes. The last time I knowingly ate them was over a year ago and I reacted with D within a few hours. According to Tex, the transit time isn't that quick, so maybe it wasn't the eggs. I've been reluctant to try them again, though I am considering baking something using just one egg to see if I react. It's interesting that Rick can eat farm fresh eggs but not commercial ones. I'll be waiting for your report. If you have the same experience, I'll look for a nearby farm with a heritage breed of chicken. That might be hard to do, but it will be worth it if they work for me.

It's so nice to be able to share our experiences. My DD told me that I'm the only person she knows who would be able to follow my diet. I think it changes from being a sacrifice initially to a challenge that we have mastered. It certainly is a good feeling to know that I'm not alone and that I've finally figured it out.

Gloria
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tex
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Post by tex »

Gloria wrote:According to Tex, the transit time isn't that quick, so maybe it wasn't the eggs.
Just because the transit time isn't that quick, (at least not normally), doesn't mean that they cannot be triggering a reaction. Within several hours, most of the contents of the stomach would be on it's way, well into the small intestine, and they could certainly trigger a reaction, there. In fact, IMO, for some of us, a reaction can be triggered as soon as a trigger food reaches the stomach. If that weren't true, how could someone react to a trigger food in as little as 10 minutes?

Also, just because something triggers D, doesn't mean that it immediately causes the entire GI tract to be purged. IOW, what you see exiting, probably isn't what triggered the reaction, it just happens to be what was next in the que. At least that's what I believe happens.

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Post by Polly »

Hi You two!

I knew you'd address transit time, Tex......normal vs. impaired. For me, if I eat dairy, it goes thru me within about 2 hours, while with gluten it takes 16-18 hours. With no offenders, my gut transit time is about 24 hours. During active MC, transit time can be immediate. I recall one of our earlier members saying that the barium she drank for a test came out the other end within 15 min. of drinking it! Talk about a rumbly, grumbly, bloated stomach!

Gloria, I don't eat green beans much, but I don't recall any problems - maybe because of the infrequency. Re peanut oil, I can tolerate a little bit. But I think I actually react to ANY oil (least of all olive oil) if I eat too much of it. Of course, this makes sense in light of the fact that chronic constipation is often treated with large does of mineral oil. Red peppers can be an irritant for me, too -more than green peppers I think.

You certainly do have a great store of chocolate right now! :grin: Let's hope an intolerance doesn't rear its ugly head, although there are many here who would be happy to take the chocolate off your hands! LOL.

I don't think I react to onions. At least I haven't been avoiding them. But thanks for the heads up - since we are so similar genetically, it make be that I have just not paid enough attention to them. Can you tolerate cooked onions?

I didn't get to try the eggs yesterday. And the next few days are crazy too, so I don't know when it will be. I'll just try one first. I am thinking that it's a protein in the egg white that is a problem....do you (Tex?) know. Maybe the yellows are less allergenic? I miss eggs so much - they are so easy and nutritious! Stay tuned for results of my experiment.

Yes, the diet is certainly a challenge for us! With MI, it takes forever to tease out all of them (not to mention the irritants). Witness the fact that it took me so long to find the egg problem. Also the fact that I now have to look at onions more carefully. :wink: But I honestly believe we are better off eating the way we do - little to no processed foods, etc.

Love,

Polly
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tex
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Post by tex »

Hi Polly,

You're correct, of course. I can recall Luce posting about trying to separate the yolks from the albumen, but worrying about not being able to completely eliminate the albumen. Since the yolk is the food source for the developing embryo, (if an egg is fertilized and incubated), it would make sense that the proteins in it would be less likely to be allergenic. Enterolab tests only the main protein in egg albumen, (as you know, the egg white is known as egg albumen), so it's possible that someone could receive a negative test result, and still be intolerant to one of the other proteins, but apparently this has a low probability.

I would bet that most people who test intolerant to egg albumen, could probably safely eat the yolks, (assuming they were carefully separated from the albumen).

Love,
Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by Pat »

Gloria and Polly,

What vegetables did you find you could eat while you were healing? So far yellow squash and calabasa squash are the only ones I can tolerate so far. Actually I haven't tried any others since I have had some success - too scared.

Pat
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Post by Gloria »

Hi Pat,
The vegetables that are kind to my gut right now are broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and asparagus. I can't eat carrots or sweet potatoes, and I've been reluctant to try squash since it seems so close to sweet potatoes. It's great that you are able to eat it.

I'm still healing - I didn't have a good day today (went 3 times, none Normans) and am nervous. Hopefully I'll be back on track tomorrow. I ate soup yesterday using a new broth from Trader Joe's and it may be the problem. I can't deviate in the slightest from my acceptable list right now. Having multiple intolerances must also mean that we are extra sensitive to everything.

Gloria
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Post by Pat »

Gloria,

I am not eating acorn squash or butternut squash which I think are a lot like a sweet potato, but am eating yellow squash and calabasa squash which is similar to zuchinni but maybe a little milder. I don't think they are like sweet potato at all.

Hope today was better for you. Do you eat white potatoes?

Pat
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Post by Gloria »

Pat,
Yes, I eat white potatoes a lot.

This morning wasn't so good again, but as the day has worn on, things are better. Hopefully it was the soup broth. Time will tell. Thank you for asking.

Gloria
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Post by starfire »

Keeping my :xfingers: for you, Gloria.

Love, Shirley
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Post by kate_ce1995 »

All this chat about veggies comes at an interesting time as Geoff and I were just planning out our garden, and my coaching him on how to plant stuff because I'm leaving Thursday for 3 weeks for work. Last minute, must be done now job that will have me tromping all over NC, GA, and OH for about 2.5 weeks including working weekends.

But we've got broccoli, peas, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, a winter squash, tomatoes, lettuce, and pumpkins planned. We made a bigger garden this year (largely because my strawberry patch was/is overtaking my original garden, which is fine with me because I love strawberries!). I'm hoping to have some produce to freeze this year (although we give a lot of the "extra" to my mother-in-law).

I'm still struggling to get over my inflamed gut from my new found dairy intolerance. I'm about the same as Polly, dairy hits in about 2 hours, gluten about 18 hours even though initial bloating starts before I finish the meal. Seems like its taking forever for my gut to heal though and go back to normal. I've been dairy free since late January if I remember right.

Katy
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Post by Gloria »

Katy,
DH and I just planted our garden today and we planted many of the same veggies that you did. I probably won't be able to eat some of them (peas, green beans, green peppers, onions), but I give some to DD. I love to freeze and can the produce. It's a great feeling of satisfaction to see it processed in jars.

We planted strawberries and asparagus for the first time this year. I won't be able to harvest the asparagus until next year, but I'm so glad to have some in my garden. I'm looking forward to the fresh strawberries. We also have blueberry and raspberry bushes and a cherry tree. I love summer!

Gloria
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Post by starfire »

I'm so jealous. :grin: I can't wait till I can do a garden in Pa but it won't be this year. Won't be there long enough at a time to see results. I want to put in an asparagus bed so badly even though it takes a while to get a crop. Making me homesick, I guess.

Love, Shirley
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Post by Bifcus16 »

Regarding eggs, I have a work colleague who is only allergic to one part. I am trying to remember whether it is the whites or the yolks he can't have (haven't seen him much lately). He is perfectly happy to eat food which contains the 'other' part, as he has no problems with that - though he has quizzed me about how I separated the eggs in baking to establish if there were significant trace amounts.

So when you are feeling well you might want to do an experiment some time and see if you can handle yolks. It would be helpful if it did work, though I reckon you would still get some trace amount of white (it would be easier to get whites without yolk).

Lyn
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