I am a newbie! Enterolab results!

[sharonbelterday]

Help! Looks like most protein sources are out (meat, eggs, fish, milk, nuts, soy), and I can't have raw fruits and veggies yet, so I wonder what in the heck I can eat : - o Should I avoid all nightshades, too? I've been using almond flour...now what?

Date: 7/24/2013
Name: Day, Sharon
DOB: 3/4/1954

Gluten/Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 13 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 20 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 20 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Fecal Anti-soy IgA 16 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Expanded Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 28 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:
Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity: None
Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+):
Almond
Cashew
Walnut
White potato
Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+):
Oat
Corn
Chicken
Pork
Beef
Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+):
Tuna
Rice


Within each class of foods to which you displayed multiple reactions, the hierarchy of those reactions detected were as follows:

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Rice
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Corn

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Tuna
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Chicken
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Pork
Meat toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Beef

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Almond
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Cashew
Nut toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Walnut

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato, the member of the nightshade family usually consumed most often and in greatest quantities. While this does not necessarily mean you would react to all other nightshade foods (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), it is possible. In the realm of elimination diets for immunologic disorders, nightshades are usually eliminated as the entire food class (i.e., all four previously mentioned foods in this class). This is especially important to the clinical setting of arthritis.



TEST INTERPRETATION(S):

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA: The level of intestinal anti-gliadin IgA antibody was elevated, indicative of active dietary gluten sensitivity. For optimal health; resolution or improvement of gluten-induced syndromes (mainly falling into six categories abbreviated as NAAAGS – neuropsychiatric, autoimmune, asthma, abdominal, glandular deficiencies/hyperactivity or skin diseases); resolution of symptoms known to be associated with gluten sensitivity (such as abdominal symptoms - pain, cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea and/or constipation, chronic headaches, chronic sinus congestion, depression, arthritis, chronic skin problems/rashes, fibromyalgia, and/or chronic fatigue); and prevention of small intestinal damage and malnutrition, osteoporosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, other glands, skin, liver, spleen, among others), it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet. As gluten sensitivity is a genetic syndrome, you may want to have your relatives screened as well.

For additional information on result interpretation, as well as educational information on the subject of gluten sensitivity, please see the "FAQ Result Interpretation," "FAQ Gluten/Food Sensitivity," and "Research & Education" links on our EnteroLab.com website.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as milk, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as egg, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Fecal Anti-soy IgA: Levels of fecal IgA antibody to food antigens greater than or equal to 10 Units are indicative of an immune reaction, and hence immunologic “sensitivity” to that food. It is recommended that for any elevated fecal antibody level to a highly antigenic food such as soy, that it be removed from your diet.

Interpretation of Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods: With respect to the mean value of the 11 foods tested, overall, there was only a modest amount of immunological reactivity detected to these antigenic foods in terms of fecal IgA production.

Many foods besides gluten, milk, egg, and soy are antigenic in their own right; the main classes of which include other grains, meats, nuts, and nightshades (potatoes being the primary food eaten from this latter class). Minimizing exposure to antigenic foods is an important component of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle to optimize immune system health. This is especially important for those with chronic abdominal symptoms and/or chronic immune/autoimmune syndromes, or for those who want to prevent them.

For immunologic food sensitivity testing, the actual numeric value (in Units) for any given food or for the overall average of a group of foods is important mainly for determining: 1) if the immune reaction is present or absent, and 2) the immune reaction in relative terms to different foods tested in a given individual at a given point in time. It is not a score, per se, to be interpreted as a measure of clinical or immunological severity for that individual or between individuals. This is because the amount of IgA antibody made by a given person is particular for the immune function of that person. Furthermore, sometimes a person can display what can be viewed as immunological and nutritional “exhaustion,” whereby a more significant and symptomatic immunologic food sensitivity is accompanied by a lower positive measured anti-food antibody value (rather than a higher positive). In such an instance, following clinical improvement and improved nutritional status (while the suspect antigenic foods are withdrawn), values can actually be higher for a time before finally falling into the negative range after several years.

Thus, the overall average food sensitivity antibody value for this panel is an assessment of your overall humoral immunologic food reactivity, which can help determine if dietary elimination trials may help you. If the mean value is less than 10 Units, the humoral immune reactions can be considered clinically insignificant (negative); if greater than or equal to 10 Units, they can be considered clinically significant (positive). Rather than reporting the absolute value of a positive result for each individual food, since it cannot be considered as an assessment of severity, the results are reported in semi-quantitative terms between the foods tested (1+, 2+, or 3+). This provides you with the knowledge of which foods are stimulating the most immune response which, in turn, is indeed the most practically applied information to dietary elimination trials.

Dietary Recommendation Based on Test Results to Individual Foods:

This test panel was designed to guide your choices when building a new more healthful, less antigenic dietary plan. The results are delivered in such a way that you are not left with “nothing to eat,” but instead they should guide you in avoiding the foods to which the highest or most immunologic reaction was detected (and hence, are most stimulating to your immune system). We discourage dietary changes that involve removing too many foods at once. This can lead you to feel too hungry too often, especially if adequate healthful replacement foods are not readily available. Dietary elimination (beyond gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free) is best approached over a period of weeks to months and sometimes years, removing one or two additional foods at a time, rather than removing many foods at once.

If you reacted to more than one of the grains, meats, or nuts, we recommend that you first eliminate from your diet the one food from that class you reacted to most strongly, while keeping in your diet the ones you reacted to less strongly. When you want to try and eliminate additional foods, do so in the order of the strength of reaction from highest, intermediate, to least. In the case of potato, you may want to eliminate it if you reacted positively to it.

If you have an autoimmune or chronic inflammatory syndrome, or just want to pursue an optimally healthy diet and lifestyle, avoiding all grains, meats, and nightshades can optimize an anti-inflammatory diet (despite a negative result on food testing). As nuts and seeds are a very healthful source of vegetarian protein and heart-protective oils and minerals, rather than avoiding all nuts and seeds, you can render nuts and seeds less antigenic, more digestible, and more easily tolerated by choosing the few that you seem to best tolerate overall, soaking a one-day supply in a glass jar filled with clean water for 4-8 hours (or for ease, overnight), and pouring off the water and rinsing before eating. The resultant soaked nuts or seeds can be eaten as is (alone or with fresh or dried fruit), blended into nut butters (by adding some water), or added to “smoothies.”

For more information about result interpretation, please see http://www.enterolab.com/StaticPages/FaqResult.aspx
Stool analysis performed and/or supervised by: Frederick Ogunji, Ph.D., EnteroLab
Molecular Gene Analysis performed by: American Red Cross
Interpretation of all results by: Kenneth D. Fine, M.D., EnteroLab
Thank You For Allowing EnteroLab to Help You Attain Optimum Intestinal And Overall Health.

[tex]

Hmmmmm. Your situation is very unusual, in that rice is your most reactive grain. Bummer!

It's possible that you may be able to continue to eat white potatoes and use almond flour for baking, since they scored a relatively low +1, but the fact that almond was your most reactive nut is a little unsettling. You may have to experiment with sorghum flour, or chestnut flour, or amaranth, or some other uncommon option if trial and error testing shows that almond flour does indeed cause problems for you.

Incidentally, red potatoes are easier to digest than white potatoes. You may also be able to tolerate sweet potatoes and/or yams (though they may have to be tested, to be sure).

You'll need to try to find some safe meats, since you seem to react to most of the common ones. Many of the members in your situation are able to successfully eat lamb, rabbit, cabrito (young goat), and/or turkey. Duck or goose (or even emu), are other possibilities. Venison is another possibility, and that would include common whitetail deer, elk, red deer, moose, caribou (reindeer). All of the antelope species may also be safe for you. Bison may not be an option (because most of them carry DNA from domestic cattle).

With tuna testing so highly reactive, it may be difficult to find a safe species of fish, but I could be guessing wrong, about this. Freshwater fish might be an option, and shellfish may also be an option. Someone here who has more experience with sensitivities to fish may be able to offer some insight into the fish situation.

May I add your results to our list here.

Tex

[sharonbelterday]

Yes, Tex, you may add the results to your list.

Thanks for the tips on the different meats to try. I stumbled upon the SCD diet at the same time I found your site and had ordered Gotschall's book. I have been avoiding all grains (thank goodness), sugars and sweeteners (except honey), raw fruits and veggies (except bananas and avocado) and making my own yogurt, breads with almond flour, lasagna with zucchini as noodles, etc. These few steps really have helped me to start to feel better, though not completely well yet (duh, I am eating all the common meats and almond flour).

Do you think I should make my "milk" with unsweetened coconut? Or try goat's milk?

Tex, what is the guideline for "trying" a new item? Do you add it to your diet for a specific number of days before trying the next thing? I would assume that you would immediately quit after a new bout with D, but then how many days to let your system settle until you try another new item?

I have diverticulitis so am not supposed to have seeds or nuts unless they are in butter or flour form.

It is kind of tricky to find all these substitute items without spending at "whole paycheck" and finding recipes as well for cooking and baking same...
any and all advice is appreciated!!!

[tex]

Sharon,

Most people who react to the casein in cow's milk, also react to the casein in milk from virtually all other mammalian species, including goats, unfortunately. Coconut milk is probably your best bet. Some of us are able to use hempmilk, but for some unknown reason, many of us react to hempmilk. The reactions usually aren't serious, just irritations. In my case for example, hempmilk causes bloating, but no other noticeable problems.

Some of us (including myself) can't tolerate almonds (I can't tolerate any nuts), but we can use almond milk without any problems. If I recall correctly, Gloria, for example, can't tolerate almond flour, but she can use almond milk.

Quite a few members who can't tolerate nuts, can handle them in butter form, but even the nut butters cause GI problems for me.

As we become better attuned to our bodies, most of us eventually learn to interpret even subtle signs from our digestive system that something is not right with certain foods. Since we're all different, I can't offer any hard and fast rules for testing foods, but in general we need to be doing reasonably well (and not reacting violently) before we can even test individual foods. Usually, after a flare, we can tell that things have settled down after a few good days in a row. For most of us (IMO, at least), it's probably best to eat a test food every day for about 3 days in a row before we assume that it is a safe food. Of course, if you react after the first meal, there's no point in continuing the test (unless you suspect that something else might have caused the reaction). The problem with just eating a test food for one or two days, or skipping days, is that antibody levels continue to build up each time we eat a reactive food, and those antibody levels decay on days when we don't eat it. For some of us, it's common for certain foods to seem OK for a day or 2, but on the 3rd consecutive day we eat it, the antibody level reaches the threshold at which a reaction is triggered.

For most of us, we can just cut that food out of our diet, and avoid future problems. But for those of us who have very limited food choices, we may not have that luxury available to us, and rotation can provide a way to utilize certain foods in that "borderline" category. When there are no, or very few foods that are entirely safe (no or few foods that don't trigger the production of antibodies at any level), we may have to consider a rotation plan in order to stretch out (supplement) our food options. In that situation, rotating foods (by eating certain foods one day, and then skipping 2 days before eating the same foods again) can limit the antibody buildup in some cases so that they do not exceed the threshold for triggering a reaction. IOW, this is a possible option in cases where all foods tested, produce some degree of inflammation (such as +1 foods in the EnteroLab test for the 11 antigenic foods).

Gloria is the board expert on rotating foods in the diet.

I doubt that your GI doc is aware of this, but research shows that during diverticulitis episodes, the inflammation of the mucosal tissue in the tics (as the pathologists and GI docs refer to the diverticula) is marked by an elevated lymphocyte count that follows the same pattern that's used as a diagnostic marker for LC. IOW, this suggests to me that diverticulitis may simply be another special form of MC. Here's a link to an abstract of a research report, if you'd like to read more about it:

Assessment and grading of mucosal inflammation in colonic diverticular disease.

Thanks, I'll add your results to the list.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Almond

Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+): Almond

Tex, can you tell me why this is...it seems contradictory to me.

I had 3+ for tuna also, and I reacted to shrimp and salmon, but I can eat white fish such as cod/haddock.

[tex]

Tex, can you tell me why this is...it seems contradictory to me.

It means that she showed a relatively low reactivity level to almond, and even less reactivity to cashews and walnuts.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Tex, ok, that took a while to sink in...but I got it!

Since I eat so few foods, could I rotate my 2+ food...corn, pork, almond? Maybe eat them once a week? Or, do I need to stick to 1+....potato, cashew & walnut for rotating? What's your experience?

Sorry to snag your thread, Sharon, but this may help you, too. My results were similar to yours.

[Leah]

Bummer Sharon! You are really going to have to be a detective for a while.
How are you feeling right now? If you still are suffering from symptoms, you might want to stay away from all of these things for a while until you feel fairly stable. THEN try one thing at a time ( as Tex said for three days in a row) until you are sure of it. Rotating might also be a great idea. i think I rotate foods without really thinking about the actual rotation simply because I don't like to eat the same things every day. It's probably helping without me realizing it.
You can buy coconut milk in many different forms. Almond milk might still work for you also ( like Tes said).
I ate a lot of sweet potatoes before I added red potato back in. They really helped with making me feel full.
Good luck!
Leah

[tex]

Linda,

There is certainly a possibility that you might be able to tolerate some of the 2+ foods, but the odds would have been better if your overall score for those 11 foods would have been about half of what it turned out to be (I'm thinking it was over 30, but I could be wrong).

Be sure to carefully test any of the 2+ foods before adopting them in a rotation plan though, because it's possible that you might react to them every time you eat them, so rotation wouldn't work for them in that case.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Tex,

You're right my overall score was 32 units. I was just craving a little bacon in the morning, and corn products since I can't eat rice.

Sharon,

Try soaking and dehydrating nuts to make them more digestible.

I go on Pinterest, or just google the term, allergy free vegan recipes. This will give you better choices, as well as egg free recipes. Find recipes that have very few ingredients that you can tolerate. Try to stay away from fruit right now, as hard as it is, and raw veggies. You need a very simple (nonreactive) diet to allow your gut to heal.

Good luck and keep asking questions!

[sharonbelterday]

OK, I felt like screaming after I had my "hippie" breakfast of a banana and sunflower seed butter. I had to choke it down and was missing my spinach, mushroom egg white omelet immensely. At least I'm not hungry now (at least maybe I lost my appetite!)

I was so hungry yesterday and looking around for something that wasn't on my no-no list, I finally broke down and went to "whole paycheck" and bought some nut butters, some organic turkey slices, GF lentil soups. I made a list of a rotation diet for both meat and nuts, since they are on my sensitivity list and I still need protein (because I can't have eggs, milk or soy).

Dilemma, what can I eat my nut butters on, if I can't have rice products and trying to keep my raw fruit consumption down to a minimum (think apple and jicima slices)???

What else can I have for breakfast? With no eggs and no rice, many GF products contain rice with their other grains. It was so frustrating to read labels. Everything that was GF seemed to have rice or potatoes (oh, no nightshades either, lol). And, waah, coconut milk has zero protein and guar gum or other stabilizers and I don't know if these additives are ok. I suppose some people do smoothies, but without egg, how in the heck do you get protein without egg and milk? And, if you are trying to keep your fruit consumption down, hmmm.

I looked at the coconut flour (thinking about my 5# of almond flour sitting in the fridge with longing), and you can only substitute 25% of the flour in the recipe, so didn't know what else I could use.

Some diets have meat 3 x day, but with my meat sensitivities, what do I do? Rotate beef 3 x in one day then move to turkey 3 x the next day, pork 3 x the next, etc?

My lovely husband put up with the most dry beef meatloaf last night because it couldn't contain any egg or bread crumbs. I put a ton of mirepoix in it for moisture and seasoning, but alas, it was no match for my usual recipe.

My passion is cooking from scratch, and I had developed a notebook of 12 weeks of varied menus of all my tried and true favs, the majority of which are now off the table completely. I am talented enough in the kitchen to be able to modify some of them, but with no nightshades, no egg, no milk, etc, there is no altering a lot of them. I prided myself in never using processed food, using organic and cooking from scratch. I had given up wine and drink lots of water and herbal tea. Still, I get MC. : (

My rotation list looks like this: beef, chicken, port, turkey, fresh water fish (no tuna or salmon), lamb, duck or shellfish (7 days, repeat)

Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamias, pecans, hazelnuts, peanuts, pistachios (all in butter or flour form).

I am usually a cheerful person even when not feeling well, but have been very depressed since getting the list from Enterolab. I'm sure others have felt as frustrated as I do in the beginning. I really hope I can get out of this slump soon. I am trying to take actionable steps (action gets rid of funks, usually) and looking at recipes, etc, but so far no luck.

[ldubois7]

I have to say...I know exactly how you feel! I too, always ate well, and I ended up with MC! Frustrating! But, remember there's a genetic component to the food sensitives, so unless you knew, from birth, what they were, you couldn't have changed the outcome!

I fry turkey cutlets for breakfast, and make teff waffles, right now. I can't eat purchased nut butters...some add sugars etc., so I make my own and rotate those. Your 1+ foods are nuts and white potato, so is mine. I still eat white potato, because I can't eat rice or corn.

Coconut flour recipes typically use a lot of eggs, so I add it in small amounts to my baking. I had 10#'s of almond flour in the frig when I got my Enterolab results and had to freeze it all. I make my husband cookies with it now.

My advise would be to eat as simply as possible at first. I tried to eat to many different foods and ended up not knowing which caused reactions.

How long have you been gluten free? Maybe you should go gluten free, egg free, soy free, & daily free and eliminate your 3+ foods first and work from there, so it's not overwhelming.

One step at a time, one day at a time.

[Leah]

Man, I wish I had some tricks to pull out of my bag. The list you have is daunting. i would give up on meatloaf and stick to burgers. He can have a bun, you without. I do that a lot. I also make lamb burgers ( cheaper then other cuts). i saute onions and garlic and add some chopped mint and parsley and a little cumin. They are very yummy. Trout works well also since it is a fresh water fish and pretty inexpensive. I either buy it deboned or do it myself and then just season it and broil for a few minutes. i am trying to rack my brains for something you can put nut butters on. Some of us can eat apples if they are peeled. You might want to try half and see how it goes. At least it's not an inflammatory food. If i think of something else, I will chirp in.
Just try to remember that once you get through the healing phase, you will be able to add some things back in ( like fruits and veggies).
Leah

[sharonbelterday]

I really appreciate all of your responses. What a funk I have been in.

Idubois, I only have 5# of almond flour left because I already consumed the other 5#, lol! Guess that wasn't the smartest thing to do, but at least it wasn't gluten!

Leah, thanks for keeping it simple for me. I can do lamb burgers and I actually bought a de-boned lamb shoulder or leg to put in my crockpot and I have mint growing in the garden. I have been GF for about 4 months now, but will now do egg, dairy and milk free as well.

I guess I will make my own coconut milk, since the stuff even at WF has guar gum and carageenen and what not in it. Then I can make coconut milk yogurt. Good thing I know how to cook. The healthy diet expert at WF suggested I look up the GAP diet online for recipes because it it supposed to be a gut healing diet.

I read a lot of the posts to see what others have done, and I guess I don't have it so bad, someone said they only could eat millet and pork and nothing else. My head says I can figure it out, my mood just hasn't caught up yet.

I am going to take my big old binder of recipes and paw through them all to see which are salvageable. If I can get two weeks of recipes that don't have my no-no items, I will feel more optimistic.

How do you get your allergies to show up in the column to the left under your photo?

[ldubois7]

Go to your profile page to add allergies. The button is at the bottom of your page above this reply. When you get to your page, go up above where it says you have no new messages and hit the button to the left of that that says profile , and you'll be able to add to your page.

I make my own coconut milk also. Can you give me your recipe for coconut yogurt? I'd love to try it!

I LOVED almond flour! Too bad it didn't love me back!