Having difficulty getting my head around diet!

[fatbuster205]

I have taken pride in the last 13 months, in embarking on a weight loss and healthy living journey! I gave up smoking 2 years ago come Nov 7! Last Sep 13 I decided weight loss! I have lost 3 stone (42lbs) although steroids have completely plateaued me for the last three months! And believe me that has been hard work because my appetite has increased, I have maintained and increased my exercise and I have worked really hard not to eat more than 1600 calories net! I am pleased in a way that I have maintained but I have a fatter face which is fine until I look in the mirror!! Joking aside I do know it is temporary! I still need to lose another 15lbs or so to get to a normal BMI and I do intend doing that! I am within reach but the steroids are making it very tantalising!
But my healthy eating, which consists of lean meat and fish; loads of veggies and salads; relatively small amounts of carbohydrates; and tiny amounts of cheese - my biggest weakness!!! ! I have "cheated" in that I have bought loads of Weight Watchers Ready Meals or equivalents and now I am reading labels it's quite scary what is in them! That said they taught me portion control and my increased exercise is obviously of benefit physically, mentally and emotionally! I do find my walking (2-6 miles a day) helps the gut because I am moving!
The one food group that causes me problems is fruit! I will qualify that - I can eat raw fruit and cooked fruit. But fruit salad or smoothies result in very very loose BMs! Likewise onion (is that a fruit or veg?) - French Onion Soup is a disaster - or the best laxative! But raw onion likewise!:emptytoiletpaperroll:
What worries me is how many of you cannot eat salad! I grow my own salad! I love salad and eat it certainly a couple of times a week in winter and in summer, pretty much daily! I like my veggies cooked pretty much al dente - depending on the veg! I would therefore be really interested to know how many of you are "simply" GF? Can you eat salad, veggies and fruit? Because giving those up for me is way harder than giving up gluten!!
And of course there is the lipstick issue!
Opinions, experiences and suggestions all welcome!
Anne

[cjbndtsn]

Anne,
I fortunately, so far, am ONLY GF. I have not had to eliminate dairy, soy or egg. With my GF diet I do also eat a lot of salads, especially in the summer, because of the fresh homegrown tomatoes, onions.......etc. I also eat a lot of fruit but it contains mostly of bananas (fresh and frozen) and peeled apples. I peel apples and tomatoes though to avoid trying to digest the skins. I do try to stay away from the fruits with seeds. Some nights my evening treat is a to slice a frozen banana and eat it that way. (I got that tip from this website that when banana peels start turning dark..........peel it and freeze it). Occasionally I'll eat fruit cups and applesauce. Limes only in my margarita's Veggies.........aside from what I put on my salad.......all my veggies are cooked. Carrots, Broc, Cauliflower and every 6 weeks or so.........I try some corn. Now I'm currently on entocort and starting my taper period........so once I taper off......I will see if these others have any affect on my gut. For now though I seem to do fine as long as I stay away from Gluten.
I feel really bad for all the folks that have to eliminate so many other foods.

[fatbuster205]

Hi Cathy,
Love the Magueritas idea not that I drink them very often! Will try the frozen banana idea - I cannot stand normally over ripe bananas! Thank you so much for your response! It means so much to have people out there who understand the disease and have found solutions that work for them that can help others!
Anne

[Martha]

Dear Anne,

I think the "ban" on salad is mostly for the healing stage. Once you eliminate the things that are causing the basic inflammation (most often gluten, dairy, and soy) and give your gut a chance to heal, then you can start adding those other things back into the diet, because they usually don't cause the inflammation, but they do irritate your gut if it is already inflamed.

I have given up gluten (2 years this month), dairy and soy (2 years in January), and other legumes, which I quit eating because they seemed to give me gas and a rumbly tummy. I had never noticed that fruits or vegetables bothered me, but I did give them up for about 6 weeks soon after I went DF and SF, on the principle that I'd just give myself time to heal. I now eat salads, both raw and cooked vegetables, and fruit. I still don't eat beans or peas, and go easy on corn kernels, although I eat other corn products. I peeled apples until just a few weeks ago, and now I occasionally leave the skins on the apples, and haven't suffered for it.

I don't cheat, and have no desire to do so. I have sometimes inadvertently eaten something I shouldn't -- most often soy, because it hides in the most unusual places--but I wouldn't eat it by choice.

I don't wear much makeup, so I haven't gone GF on cosmetics, shampoo, or soap, but I did switch to coconut oil for body lotion. I gave up lipstick entirely about a month ago when there was a news report that said the average women eats 6 pounds of lipstick in her life. Gluten or no gluten, soy or no soy, that is just seriously disgusting. My lipstick experiment was to rub beets on my lips, but that just washed right off.

Anyway, Anne, congratulations on losing weight, as you wanted to do. I hope you are soon able to identify which things are causing your problems, so that you can go back to eating salads with a light heart and a contented stomach.

Love,
Martha (my middle name is Anne)

[tex]

Hi Anne,

Congratulations on losing all that weight and quitting smoking. That's not an easy combination to successfully accomplish.

Martha and Cathy have already done a good job of addressing your concerns. The only comment I might add is that if eating fruit/veggies/salads doesn't cause you to have D, then there is probably no compelling reason to stop eating them. Please note that onions cause D for many of us, and so does iceberg lettuce. Those two are probably the worst. Whether you avoid fruits and vegetables or not during the healing process is your judgment call, but even if you need to avoid them for a while, it's only temporary. After the gut heals, (as Martha pointed out), you can add them back into your diet.

Also, if you want to lose more weight, you might consider the paleo diet — it's gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and added sugar-free, and it's heavy on nuts, fruits, and veggies.

Tex