First time poster... Thanks for the help thus far!

[TXmom]

Hello! First time poster here, and I am grateful to have found this board. I was diagnosed with CC back in 2015 and treated with budesonide. I respond well, but it always comes back. As you might expect, my Dr. isn't very helpful... His only dietary advice was FODMAP which resulted in me eating a ton of certain fruits and veggies. Not helpful. Most recently, he sent me for skin allergy testing. After a somewhat humiliating visit to the allergist, I decided it was time to get serious about my own research, which led me here and to Tex's book!

After studying, I immediately cut out fruits and veggies, and went gluten, soy, dairy and egg free about 2 weeks ago... and did the Enterolab testing. I also started eating SO much protein! Results are back yesterday, and I feel very lucky (aside from currently riding out hurricane Harvey)! The results are as follows:
Anti-gliadin 19 units
Anti-casein 6 units
Anti-ovalbumin 2 units
Anti-soy 4 units

Foods with no significant reactivity: corn, beef, chicken, pork, tuna, almond, walnut, cashew, white potato
Foods with some reactivity: oat and rice

Unfortunately, the main food I was consuming until I got the results was rice... and lots of it as I have been concerned about how to not lose weight. Obviously, I've removed rice now. I also added vitamin D (Sunshine Mist) and Magnesium (topical oil) a couple of days ago. Ironically, removing rice instantly cured a weird backache that I developed over my two week stint of consuming it three times daily. Grateful for that!

I have a few questions, if you don't mind!
1. Should I be concerned about other vitamin/mineral deficiencies? Specifically, calcium or vitamin C. Any recommendations for easy to digest or alternative choices for those?
2. Do you recommend going back on the budesonide as I wait for my body to react to the new eating plan and heal?
3. It seems that leaky guy is definitely involved, but is there a test to officially diagnose leaky gut?
4. What do you think about including fruit juices? Any good ones? Guessing not citrus?
5. For veggies... I infer that overcooked veggies should be ok at some point during healing. How do you know when?
6. For fruits... does the form matter (i.e. if I blend them up and use them in a smoothie are they ok, or is the fiber still problematic)?

Thanks again for the wealth of information shared here!

[tex]

Hi,

And welcome to our Internet family. It sounds as though you are off to a great start with your recovery. Yes, your EnteroLab results are the envy of most of us. You have a lot of food options, compared with most of us. I'll attempt to answer your questions.

1. Should I be concerned about other vitamin/mineral deficiencies? Specifically, calcium or vitamin C. Any recommendations for easy to digest or alternative choices for those?

Not unless you know for a fact that you are deficient. It takes quite a while for deficiencies to develop

2. Do you recommend going back on the budesonide as I wait for my body to react to the new eating plan and heal?

Only if your symptoms are debilitating so that you are unable to go about your daily routine, and the symptoms interfere with your work.

3. It seems that leaky guy is definitely involved, but is there a test to officially diagnose leaky gut?

I'm not aware of any. If you have arthritis-like joint pain, or food intolerances, you have leaky gut.

4. What do you think about including fruit juices? Any good ones? Guessing not citrus?

Almost all of us react to citric acid while we are recovering. Juices that contain fructose are not easily digested. Others may be OK.

5. For veggies... I infer that overcooked veggies should be ok at some point during healing. How do you know when?

Certain overcooked vegetables (such as squash, carrots, maybe potatoes (since your test was fine), etc., are OK at any time as long as they are peeled and small to moderate servings (to limit fiber) are eaten.

6. For fruits... does the form matter (i.e. if I blend them up and use them in a smoothie are they ok, or is the fiber still problematic)?

Both the fiber and the fructose in fruit can be a problem. However, as long as you don't overdo them, small to moderate amounts of peeled and cooked fruits may be OK. The only raw fruit that's safe (not for everyone) is banana,

Again welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

welcome!

tex has answered your questions ....

stop, breathe and take your time to read and digest the info on this forum...
ask questions and take changes slowly.

I will reiterate to be really cautious about fruit in your diet and smoothies in the early stage of healing. the combo of the sugars and fibre etc are not good for you at the moment... (except for banana)
and the priority is protein protein protein, every meal, as snacks etc, protein is key for health digestion, healing leaky gut etc.

keep reading - keep asking questions!
happy healing

[TXmom]

Thank you both! Will keep my head down and go with these safe foods.

Just curious... I'm putting on my patient hat, but after 7 years of this, I'm getting frustrated. In all of your experience, how long is the healing time once you have eliminated sensitivity foods and irritant foods? I know it's different for everyone, but should I set my expectations on days, weeks, months? I can't even type yea...

Thanks!

Staci

[tex]

Staci,

In my opinion, time to remission of major digestive symptoms can vary from one or two days to a year or more. Most people who are serious about their diet see relief in about three to six months (without any medications to mask the symptoms). Time to complete healing (restoration of original cellular histology) is about two to five years, depending on age. Kids heal in less than a year. Symptoms such as brain fog and fatigue usually require about two years of healing to be completely resolved. All of these are estimates, depending on a lot of factors.

In my case, I cut gluten out of my diet 100 %, and then experimented with other foods for a year and a half, before starting a very limited diet. It took me so long because this happened many years ago, and I had no one to advise me, so I had to learn "on the job", so to speak. Once I started the elimination diet (cut out all my food sensitivities) I was in remission in about two weeks. I had occasional reactions as my gut healed, especially when I tried to reintroduce foods too soon, but other than that, I was in remission. It took about another year and a half before I managed to successfully reintroduce a food (corn). But remember that my intestines had a lot of damage to heal because I reacted at least about five years before I adopted the elimination diet. At the time, I didn't even realize that's what it was.

You're very welcome.

Tex