Page 1 of 1 [ 13 posts ] 

beef_bourito
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,319
Location: Ontario, Canada

11 Feb 2009, 3:19 pm

i think i'm going to try some kind of exclusion diet. i've been feeling a bit out of it lately and i think my diet might have something to do with it. since i've moved out i haven't really been eating much, although i've been eating more home-made foods i haven't been eating as well as when i lived with my parents.

i'm mainly going to try to exclude dairy from my diet. i never really thought to hard about the gfcf diet and didn't really consider doing anything like that until just now. i don't know why i didn't make the connection before, it's so obvious now, but i was just reading about how a good portion of the population is allergic to milk and it just clicked. my mom is sensitive to milk and has some kind of bowel issue (not sure what, maybe IBS), my sister is lactose intolerant, and apparently i had some bowel issues when i was young, but nothing significant since i can remember. i don't really consume any artificial colours, at least not in any great quantity, i don't have a lot of sugar, other than the occasional drink of juice, i rarely drink soft drinks (i have maybe a can or two a month, but usually i'll go a month or two without any), and i don't eat much packaged food.

i've added a multivitamin/mineral supplement and omega 3 supplement to make up for my lack of food consumption, which i'm also trying to improve, because i was most likely deficient in some minerals, vitamins, and definitely some fatty acids (i ate mostly red meat).

does anyone have experience with exclusion diets who could offer me some advice on what to avoid? right now my diet consists of: usually either cereal and milk or an egg sandwich for breakfast, various snacks during the day (fruits and vegetables, sometimes a nature valley granola bar) and for dinner i'll usually have some kind of meat (usually red meat, although i'm trying to eat more fish, i've discovered that trout is absolutely amazing and easy to cook) with some kind of starch (i like sweet potatoes) and i try to throw some veggies in there but i don't always.

a couple of questions: when avoiding dairy, is it important to avoid yogurt? i just read that butter should be avoided for those with milk allergies, but does yogurt? the lactic acid produced from the bacteria involved reacts with the protein in milk to produce the texture but is there enough left over to cause problems? if so, has anyone tried soy yogurt? how does it taste?
what are some good tasting, healthy (meaning no trans fats) alternatives to butter? i don't like margarine.
what are good sources of fibre that don't contain gluten? (i might as well avoid as much of it as possible while i'm doing this)

also, the medication for adhd cuts my appetite, which is why i sometimes forget to eat, and eating large meals is difficult. i've also been having a LOT of trouble with motivation lately so if i'm not hungry, even if i remember to eat, i'll occasionally just decide "screw it, i don't feel like it" so if anyone has suggestions on some really quick healthy snacks that conform to an exclusion diet that would be great. i would prefer to graze throughout the day, especially when i'm studying or doing schoolwork, so i'm hoping to have a decent sized breakfast (it's often my biggest meal, although my dinner is sometimes larger) with a lot of snacks throughout the day, a medium sized dinner, and probably some snacks after that.

i'm also a rower so if you know of some calorie-dense foods that are healthy and fit let me know.

oh i just remembered, is mayonnaise ok?

thanks in advance for the help, it's been a lot more difficult to motivate myself and i've been a lot more lethargic and apathetic lately so i'm hoping a change in diet will help, along with some professional help.

edit: the all-important question: beer. I LOVE beer, i haven't been drinking much lately but i don't want to give it up completely. my favourite would have to be wheat beer, most of which are unfiltered and thus still contain yeast and wheat proteins, it's going to hurt to have to avoid that. does anyone know how i would be able to find out if a beer contains anything that should be avoided (artificial colours, flavours, gluten, etc.)? i don't buy mega brewery beers (coors, molsen, labatt, etc.) so i'm not too worried about artificial colours and flavours, and i know many microbreweries don't contain artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, etc. so does anyone have any suggestions on beers to buy that would be ok? i know of mill street organic, which i'm going to assume doesn't contain preservatives or other additives, which isn't bad but i rarely, if ever, buy the same beer twice in a row because i love variety, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

by the way, i usually drink beer because i love the taste, the whole experience is very intense and almost personal to me, and not to get drunk. i do occasionally drink and get drunk with friends but most of my beer consumption is for the sheer enjoyment of the beverage.



ouinon
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jul 2007
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,939
Location: Europe

11 Feb 2009, 3:31 pm

beef_bourito wrote:
When avoiding dairy, is it important to avoid yogurt?

Yes, though less so if you are only intolerant of lactose because much of it will have been digested by the bacteria, same as with mature hard cheese, but if you are allergic to the casein, ( the protein in it ), it is all bad.
Quote:
What are some good tasting, healthy (meaning no trans fats) alternatives to butter? i don't like margarine.

Goose fat, and some veg pates and nut butters are good to spread on bread/rice cakes etc, as is bacon dripping. And some people can manage "ghee"/indian butter which is clarified butter, from which the casein and lactose is practically all removed.
Quote:
What are good sources of fibre that don't contain gluten?

Green salad and vegetables. Fruit. Pulses, ( beans, lentils, peas, etc ),

Quote:
Suggestions on some really quick healthy snacks that conform to an exclusion diet that would be great.

Really healthy are nuts and seeds and fruit and raw veg/salad stuff, sprouts etc. Next best are rice cakes with spreads on, ( you can get rice cakes with chocolate but it would get expensive ), and corn chips, ( beware gluten on the flavoured kind ), with dips, avocado and tomato sauce things etc.

Quote:
Some calorie-dense foods that are healthy and fit let me know.

Nuts, mayonnaise to dip carrot and cucumber sticks in, oily bean dips, dried fruit.

I'm sorry, I don't know about beer. I think that it will always be dodgy for people avoiding gluten because of the malt in it. I may be wrong, but alcoholic drinks are described as jet propelled allergens.

Good luck. :)

PS. And check your medications. Ask the manufacturer if necessary, because many meds have milk powder or flour/gluten/wheat starch in them.

.



beef_bourito
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,319
Location: Ontario, Canada

11 Feb 2009, 4:01 pm

oh yeah i forgot about the medication. the capsules have some gelatin and stuff in them but i can just open them up and swallow the beads inside. the capsule is only there to ease administration and isn't required for the medication to work properly.



Sorenna
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 May 2008
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 519

11 Feb 2009, 4:20 pm

Hi-

I went on no gluten, no dairy. Made a HUGE difference .



millie
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,154

12 Feb 2009, 2:52 am

i stopped dairy over 12 years ago. i stopped eating wheat too. i do not have coeliac but have toruble with dairy and wehat. they make me feel sick. really bloated and fuzzy in the brain.

i can eat a bit of yoghurt and that is nice. but not too much.



Callista
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

12 Feb 2009, 4:04 am

I really think you should ask a nutritionist about this.

Here's a question: Are you getting enough to eat, period? I'm asking because it looks like you're not eating lunch at all, just various low-calorie snacks; and the rest of what you're eating also seems rather low-calorie. If you're not particularly in touch with your physical body, or you get obsessed and forget about it, or both, then you're rather vulnerable to the sort of malnutrition that's common enough on the spectrum... that is, people eating whatever's convenient, and not nearly enough of it. At least what you're eating is relatively healthy; try to survive long enough on fast food and Twinkies, and you're liable to end up with scurvy!

If you're not getting enough food, then your body will naturally conserve its resources, causing tiredness, fuzzy-headedness, and a general feeling of inefficient operation.

If you're going to eliminate anything, I suggest you call your doctor and get a referral to a certified nutritionist (not an alternative-medicine practitioner, but somebody who's studied how the body works and uses the food you eat). Then get yourself a notebook and write down the types and amounts of food you eat for about a week, as well as any sort of indigestion or other problems (allergies, etc.) that could be related to what you're eating. Also give him your family history. A family history of lactose intolerance does point that way.

Also note that if your tiredness is occurring around midafternoon (or subjective midafternoon--it'll be later if you get up later), this is supposed to happen, because that's the usual dip in the circadian rhythm, and the usual time when many people traditionally take naps.


_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com


beef_bourito
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,319
Location: Ontario, Canada

12 Feb 2009, 4:17 am

no, i'm not getting enough to eat. i've gotten better over the last few weeks, i've been eating more and have lost some weight, but i should still be eating more, especially when i kick up my training for the months to come (and even more important is the summer when i'll be doing 3-4hrs of cardio every day).

i'm hoping to modify my whole diet with this. i was asking for easy to make, nutritious snacks because i know it's hard for me to stuff down large meals and in order to get the food down i need to eat lots of smaller portions. this fall (university rowing season) i was good about eating a lot, i'd eat frequently and i'd try to get calorie dense foods in me to pack more into a smaller package, but since i've started getting lethargic, unmotivated, etc. my diet's gotten worse, which has probably exacerbated the problem. the reason for the exclusion part of the diet is just to give myself any possible edge to deal with my personal issues. i'll try it for a while and then start adding things back in, if they don't adversely affect me then i'll keep them in my diet. i figure that while i'm modifying my eating habits i might as well kill two birds with one stone and find out if anything in my diet is hurting me in any way.



Dussel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,788
Location: London (UK)

12 Feb 2009, 4:54 am

1) You need all kind of fats - there are no "good" and "bad" fats. There too much fat general or much fat of one kind or too less fat. A mixture of fats from vegetable (nuts, oils) and from animals (milk/butter, meat, lard) in moderation is reasonable. Fats are important transporters for vitamins. It is absolutely reasonable to eat e.g. vegetables cooked with some butter or oil (and tastes better!).

2) Gluten-Allergy is with Caucasians extremely rare. 4000 years of eating wheat did kick those out the Caucasian gene-pool. There is in the very most cases no reason to avoid wheat products. Problems with modern bread are less caused by wheat and gluten, but more with "flour enhancers" and some modern methods of producing bread which do not give the dough enough time and care to transform the gluten in better digestible forms. If possible go for traditional sour dough bread or start making your own. A good test are pure rye breads, because they need a sour dough for the production and demand a long fermentation process (rye does not work with yeast well), but contains also gluten (lower amounts than in wheat). It would surprise if you would have with pure rye bread the same problems.

3) Lactose problems are normal with people which stopped drinking milk in childhood. People which constantly drink milk (I do daily one litre and more) remain the ability to digest lactose. If you really need clarified butter,it is easy to do on your own (any French cook book shall explain the process, because clarified butter is common in French cooking for roasting).

4) Mayonnaise: A horrible chapter: It is hard to find reasonable mayonnaise commercially. To stabilize mayonnaise and to make mayonnaise "low fat", a lot of manipulation had to be done. Also: They use very cheap oil and eggs of dubious origin: Make your mayonnaise for your own: It quite simple and you know the ingredients.

5) Spices: Spices do not just taste better, they help the metabolic process. If you have here difficulties, some pepper, sage, mugwort, thyme or basil helps a lot (and tastes better!). Do not underestimate garlic - it is not a "wonder herb", but helps also with the digestion.

6) Alcohol: Alcohol in strict moderation with food help the metabolic process, so a glass of wine with a full meal is good idea.

---

As a general rule: Eat of everything, but everything in moderation.



ouinon
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jul 2007
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,939
Location: Europe

12 Feb 2009, 5:13 am

Dussel wrote:
Gluten-Allergy is with Caucasians extremely rare.

Researchers have increasingly been discovering that what was once considered a rare condition, coeliac disease, is actually just the tip of the iceberg of gluten intolerance/sensitivity. Many many people have "sub-clinical" gluten-sensitivity. Many suffer from serious ill-health for years before discovering that they are intolerant of gluten.

Quote:
Spices: Spices do not just taste better, they help the metabolic process.

Mustard and pepper are two of the most irritant substances in our foods. Certain people can not tolerate them.

Quote:
Eat of everything, but everything in moderation.

As a general rule perhaps, but not if you have food intolerances/allergies or sensitivities to wheat and/or gluten, dairy and or lactose, corn, soya, citrus fruits, yeast, fructose, starch/polysaccharides, the potato family, ( includes tomato, bell peppers and aubergine ), the onion family, ( includes leek and garlic ), sugar, salicylates, ( in highly coloured fruit and veg ), etc etc etc.

.



Dussel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,788
Location: London (UK)

12 Feb 2009, 5:30 am

ouinon wrote:
Dussel wrote:
Gluten-Allergy is with Caucasians extremely rare.

Research is finding that what was once considered a rare condition, coeliac disease, is actually just the tip of the iceberg of gluten intolerance/sensitivity. Many many people have "sub-clinical" gluten-sensitivity. Many suffer from serious ill-health for years before discovering that they are intolerant of gluten.


It is bit hard to believe: Europeans eat wheat, the grain with highest contents of gluten (which important for making soft bread - if ever eat prure rye bread, which contains lower amounts of gluten you will see the different). Any individual would not survive long in the most periods of European history with such a condition.

ouinon wrote:
Quote:
Spices: Spices do not just taste better, they help the metabolic process.

Mustard and pepper are two of the most irritant substances in our foods. Certain people can not tolerate them.


Spices animate the body to produce digestive juices in higher amounts. This helps especially with fatty or other hard to digest food. The use of sage with heavy cream loaded cheese sauces, pepper with beef, mustard with sausage of mugwort with eel and geese has a long and good tradition, because it is known since ages these spices help the body to handle such food. One the best ways to cure an upset stomach quickly is to eat a teaspoon of black pepper.

ouinon wrote:
Quote:
Eat of everything, but everything in moderation.

As a general rule, but not if you have food intolerances; allergies or sensitivities to wheat and/or gluten, dairy and or lactose, corn, soya, citrus fruits, yeast, fructose, starch, potato family, the onion family, ( includes garlic ), sugar, etc etc etc.


You can learn your body to handle food intolerances by exposing your body to such foods. You shall not underestimate the ability of the human body to handle such stuff. The body can learn to deal with any kind of foot. Otherwise mankind would not survived the first some 10'000 years of its existence. It is a phenomena of the recent 50 years that we can be picky with our food.



ouinon
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jul 2007
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 5,939
Location: Europe

12 Feb 2009, 5:45 am

Dussel wrote:
ouinon wrote:
Dussel wrote:
Gluten-Allergy is with Caucasians extremely rare.
Research is finding that what was once considered a rare condition, coeliac disease, is actually just the tip of the iceberg of gluten intolerance/sensitivity. Many many people have "sub-clinical" gluten-sensitivity. Many suffer from serious ill-health for years before discovering that they are intolerant of gluten.
It is bit hard to believe: Europeans eat wheat, the grain with highest contents of gluten. Any individual would not survive long in the most periods of European history with such a condition.

I said "subclinical" and tip of the iceberg. The vast iceberg below the water is people who do not die of their sensitivity/intolerance, but just suffer many serious, degenerative, systemic/diffuse/pervasive physical and mental ill-health problems as a result.

Dussel wrote:
ouinon wrote:
Quote:
Spices: Spices do not just taste better, they help the metabolic process.
Mustard and pepper are two of the most irritant substances in our foods. Certain people can not tolerate them.
Spices animate the body to produce digestive juices in higher amounts.

Exactly, and some people's digestive systems do not tolerate this "stimulation", or are more rapidly exhausted by it than others.

Quote:
You can [ teach ] your body to handle food intolerances by exposing your body to such foods. You shall not underestimate the ability of the human body to handle such stuff. The body can learn to deal with any kind of foot. Otherwise mankind would not survived the first some 10'000 years of its existence. It is a phenomena of the recent 50 years that we can be picky with our food.

I am 46, and until I was 29 I happily ate everything, and then my body collapsed. It could not handle it for any longer. In the last couple of years before I began exclusion diets I was experiencing manic-depression, anxiety, etc, the smelliest feet known to man, frequent severe headaches, frequent very bad colds, and almost constant gut bloating.

I have learned that the body is a wonderfully delicate instrument. Mankind survived for 100's of thousands of years on meat, fish, raw root vegetables, salads/sprouts, fruit and nuts and seeds, before beginning to cultivate and cook grains/cereals and dairy food. Archeologists have established that the health of people before the neolithic was far superior to that of people afterwards.

"Picky" is what humans used to be, until the spread of agriculture, 12, 000 years ago.

.



ManErg
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Apr 2006
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,090
Location: No Mans Land

12 Feb 2009, 7:55 am

Dussel wrote:
2) Gluten-Allergy is with Caucasians extremely rare. 4000 years of eating wheat did kick those out the Caucasian gene-pool.


I have no problems with what you're saying in general, just a nit pick based on an article I read recently on historical wheat consumption. I wish I could find the link, anyway the article was by a neurologist and he listed the historical consumption of wheat by different cultures.

Anyway, he reckoned that wheat didn't become a major part of most Europeans diet until as little as 1,000 years ago. Either way, these time spans are not long enough to have eliminated the intolerances from the gene pool. Wheat consumption has increased dramatically in the last 100 years. Even our recent ancestors ate nowhere near as much as we do.

It all depends on what you mean by tolerance, too. The radical view is that we're tolerant to wheat so long as you don't consider any connection between acne, eczma, asthma, some behavioral disorders, obesity, depression, tooth decay, some cancers as linked to wheat in any way. They point to evidence from the last 100 years where peoples who previously suffered *none* of those, begin to get them as soon as they start on a westernized highly processed wheat based diet.

I'll leave that arguing to the experts. But I would consider that wheat consumption has varied signifcantly across cultures and it is still a *very* recent development for many of us. Certainly not long enough to have worked itself out in the gene pool, if it ever does.


_________________
Circular logic is correct because it is.


earthmonkey
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jun 2005
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Posts: 432

13 Feb 2009, 4:17 am

One tip, since often we use dairy as a quick calcium source: broccoli! If you steam it (lightly), you can get more volume in, though I believe that cooking too much can reduce the vitamin C content or something (not too sure about that, would have to double check), so if you're not eating much vitamin C rich foods like fruits then having some raw and some lightly steamed may be good. If you're not too fond of broccoli, it may help to chop it into little pieces and mix it with a strong sauce like a teriyaki sauce or a spicy sauce or something.

(I say strong because sometimes when there's a food you don't like so much you want to just completely drown it with sauce, like I used to do with ketchup as a child on french fries and boiled eggs until my parents got mad at me and told me that I was basically pouring spoonfuls of salt onto my plate 8O ).

I found for awhile that while I was eating lots of veggies mixed in main courses and on the side that I was eating hardly any fruit, and so I make smoothies to get fruits in now. A non-dairy milk like almond milk or rice milk often has calcium in it too, if you want to make sure you're getting enough (especially if you don't eat a wide variety of vegetables and nuts that are good sources of calcium; almonds spring to mind - and by blending some almonds with a little oil I believe you can get almond butter, which makes a tasty spread; don't know about the calcium content of peanuts).

Green leafy veg (aside from spinach, because of absorption), oranges, figs, parsley, and apparently black beans are good sources as well. Being in the sun helps you make vitamin D, which helps absorb calcium. If that doesn't happen too often because of a work/school schedule or where you live or something, eating cereals and non-dairy milks that are fortified with vitamin D can help, and if that's not enough then there's always the route of further supplementation. I probably should eat more vitamin D myself and go outside more now that the sun is out again, since I almost never go outside when it's light out, and I wear a hood to keep my eyes from bright fluorescent lights indoors (forget to take it off when outside).

There are some alternative, non-dairy "butters", like Earth Balance, but they can be a bit more expensive than other butter I think (don't know if it is significant or not; I don't really cook myself). Mostly for cooking using oil like olive or vegetable oil, and other times for spreads, well even before I cut out dairy, for breads one thing to do is say use olive oil and sundried tomatoes (wish I had some of that around!) or (hmm, you mentioned gluten free - I think hummous would be gluten free, and I think that would be a good spread; I like to have it with chips as a snack though I haven't had it lately).

Having said all that, calcium hasn't been a big worry on me, but then again I eat a quite varied diet with lots of grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, etc. (Plus the occasional chocolate, chocolate mousse, etc. :D ) I also eat a lot and went from overweight to steadily losing weight to a "normal" weight, where I've been stable. :) FWIW a lot of my joint pain feels better, though it is entirely anecdotal and cannot be pinpointed to any one factor. Still have tons of other stuff that hasn't gone away and I'm not holding my breath!

(No change in autistic traits for instance, and no expectation of such - also no gastrointestinal symptoms that might suggest gluten intolerance since stopping dairy, except for when I've been put on certain medications temporarily, and these are in all likelihood related to the medications since they have in the past all stopped when the medications have been stopped/switched.) :P


_________________
"There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain"

--G. K. Chesterton, The Aristocrat