Wheat Dairy and Legumes impact of both RA/RF

[Tiff]

Lynne,

I also need to gain weight!  I'm holding my own right now, and I think the thing that is doing the best for me is a huge smoothie I drink every day.  It includes raw goat milk, goat yogurt, coconut milk, organic blueberries & strawberries, a touch of raw honey.  I practically live off this right now.  For more calorie boosting, I eat a bit of macadamia nuts, pistachios (all shelled – what an extravagance!) with some dried fruit and a few semi-sweet chocolate chips (cheating!).  The rest of my diet is a lot like yours, it sounds (low D).  I don't eat much Asian food (sniff, sniff) though due to soy sauce and no rice (rice is temporary I hope).

We eat a lot of stir-fry veggie dishes with olive oil and butter – whole wheat pasta and simple meats either stir-fried in or grilled lightly.  Lots of simple spices and garlic and other veggies from our garden as much as possible.  I also make my own bread from whole grain I grind so that it is not fortified.  Gosh, my family loves that stuff!  I also make my own sauerkraut since kefir was too much bother.  This is the first time I have dieted in ANY way and not dropped weight like crazy!  But I must qualify:  all our food is pretty high calorie due to the rich oils we use.  We are all crazy high metabolism people, and except me, my family is very active (I used to be!).  This is not a good diet for everyone!

 

 

[mom]

Lynn,

sounds like you have your diet under control, eliminated all the offenders, so did that make a difference in controlling your RA? How is your RF?

I could stand to lose a little weight, so may be this is the way to control my RA and shed some weight.

MOM

[Jennhere]

Tiff- Coconut oil is tasty on stir-fry.  Can you have that?  I like it on broccoli.  It's also good for cooking your fish dishes.  Peppers (can you have them) are good slightly cooked with coconut oil.  Just for a change, maybe, if you can have it.  It's good.

Jenn

[lynnie_sydney]

Mom – I would think it may be difficult to get sufficient protein when on a vegetarian diet and then cut out legumes (how do you get all 9 amino acids???).I am okay re this because I have been instructed to eat red meat at least 3 times a week. You may need some professional advice.

MY particular diet was recommended for me right now by my AP Doc and Naturopath after testing and to heal my leaky gut. This would NOt be the diet everyone has to go on. And I believe some things will be able to be added back in to my diet after 3 – 6 months. That is because the IgG antibodies that our bodies produce have a half life of 6 weeks. And, after 3-6 months, I will no longer have any of the IgG antibodies I started with, with the new IgG antibodies no longer reacting to the food allergens when re-introduced. (NB This is NOT true for celiac disease and immediate onset food allergies which are IgE based). 

It is generally thought by allergy/intolerance/leaky gut specialists that cow's milk, grains and yeast and preservatives, colours, flavours and added chemicals are the primary culprits in food intolerances and in leaky gut. Simply because these are essentially 'new foods' in our diets which our bodies were not made to consume.   There is a great article on allergy and intolerance generally on the  website http://www.happytums.com  Whilst this organisation does produce food and supplements, it is a recommended supplier by the Food Intolerance Network and Allergy Clinic run by our major teaching hospital (i.e. their creds are good). I have pasted the link that will take you straight to the allergy and intolerance information document which is the second part of a doc on salicylate and amine intolerance. It gives a great overview on allergy and intolerance generally and why food allergies and intolerances are on the rise. Lynnie   

http://www.happytums.com/images/Salicylates_And_Amines.pdf

 

 

    

 

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[lynnie_sydney]

I wish I could go to some kind of setting where I could receive an elemental diet for some time to see what happens, or maybe an IV diet. 

Tiff – it's interesting you should say this. One of the first things my new AP doc said to me is that people who are in hospital and on nil-by-mouth tend to become free of joint/connective tissue pain, the classic indication that foods ARE indicated in these diseases. The problem is that it is not a one-size-fits all answer and just another part of the jigsaw puzzle that we pioneering types must work to figure out for ourselves – with help of course. The more I'm researching, the more fascinated I'm becoming. And I have to say, the better I'm feeling on my (pretty restrictive) diet. Will post an update soon after another 10 days or so. Lynnie 

PS BTW soy milk is okay on my diet. But it has to be malt-free, because soy with malt has gluten in it. It does take some work and alot of label reading to ensure that what you think you are eliminating, you actually ARE.

 

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[Tiff]

Lynnie,

The hospital example doesn't quite work for me.  Unless they are doing this for research purposes they are probably in the hospital for other reasons – stressful ones.  If that is the case, then their rheumatic symptoms may be supressed due to stress hormones not diet changes.  My rheumatic symptoms always drop off if I am extremely stressed by other things (events, monthly cramps, head-cold symptoms etc.).  Fasting would surely make my joints feel better, but not for long.  But I would think it would be more clear if the atmosphere was geared to research.

[/color]

 

This is exactly what my doctor is doing with me, and it finally makes sense.  Based on my results I need to avoid soy, rice, buckwheat, celery – the strangest array of things, but not gluten or wheat, and thankfully not honey or peppers!  So, yes, Jenn happily I can eat peppers.  I thought those would be off because I love them big-time and crave them, and much of the literature says the foods we often crave are the worst for us. 

I'm going to order a new test to see how avoiding these foods has changed the test results, but I will say that I have not lost weight while doing this even though I have also avoided all seafoods, eggs, fortified products to conform to MP.  Amazingly I don't feel deprived either.  Maybe the right fit is critical to success.

[/color]

 

Bingo!  I agree whole heartedly with this.  It seems to me that much of the grain we consume is a late comer to our history, however, you don't see a huge problem with it when it was first introduced, when we would have been least prepared to deal with it.  In the middle ages cereal grain use exploded and it proved over all good for people increasing health, longevity, and either meeting the needs of a growing population or causing a growing population, not sure which.  There is not recorded a mass explosion of AI diseases.  Why not?  Well, they probably still ate very differently than we do, and food processing techniques were not the same.

Have any of you guys read anything from the Westin Price Foundation or Sally Fallon?  This I have asked before and no one seems interested, but they provide the key factors that talk about why these foods were healthy for our ancestors but might be making us ill.  It is fine to drop these foods if we must (and if we are already sick we may have no other choice), but if we learned to properly handle them and our food industry did a little more work to figure it out, then these huge crop industries could still help feed the world and NOT make people sick in the process!  This may be critical in prevention since the world is not going to give up this stuff.

PS – Lynnie & Jenn, how do your families deal with your diet?  Mine is trying so hard to be supportive, but they are bewildered when I try to explain it to them in any detail.  I have lists on the fridge, but things like the “barley malt” which often contains MSG just confound them!  And they want so much to help, but no one really gets it.  Even I find it overwhelming!  I have had to prioritize or I would have starved.  And we are struggling with the new burden of endless cooking and dishes, etc.  In some ways it has been great, but when time is short then tempers get short with it, and I often feel guilty that I am making our lives so hard when no one else we know has any issues like this.

[greeno]

Hi All,

Some important questions being raised in this thread, and MOM is asking the types of questions that ultimately sugest diet fatigue.

There is a lot of good information around diet, and there is a lot of mumbojumbo. The difficulty is determining which foods are causing your RH to react.
I personally believe the only way you will do this is by following an elimination diet. Some people, however, are able to get back on track by eliminating only a couple foods, but if your like me, you will have to remove more than a couple. It's far easier to start from scratch than to work backwards.

I followed this diet:

http://www.frot.co.nz/dietnet/resources/ediet_howto.htm
http://www.frot.co.nz/dietnet/reviews/mcferran01.htm

Here's the list of foods that react in one way or another with the RH:

wheat, dairy, corn, oats, soy milk, coffee, fermented tea's, chocolate, large amounts of chilli, tomatoes, lemons, sugar in all forms (I can tolerate small amounts of fruit, but I believe over time microplasma gets clever and can feed of fructose, and even body sugars), sauces i.e. soy, ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, white wine is worse than red. Cracked nuts (these have yeast on them), in fact anything contaminated with yeast.

Foods I can eat:

brown rice, Quinoa, buckwheat, good oils, all veg – I d except tomatoes, most meats except beef can be inflammatory if I eat too much.
I have my own grain mill, so I can mill the brown rice and make breads. I also have just purchased a veg milk machine i.e. rice milk which can also make nut spreads.

I break the rules slightly i.e on the weekend I might have a glass of good red wine, and some sweet fruit like cherries, or dates, or eating out I won't worry too much about a bit of grain slipping in.
The thing is I know exactly which foods react, I'm not guessing all the time.

I've just     Started a thread on the Personal history page, so check it out. I get a Herx response from eliminating the reactive foods, so this makes me think I will have a good response from the AP therapy.
If diet causes Herx, then I must be starving the microplasma, and thus they are releasing their toxins.

[mom]

Hi all,

thanks for the info on food elimination diet.

I consulted a gastroenterologist who said not to waste time doing blood tests for food allergies. She strongly believes that inflammatory diseases such as RA have alot to do with stomach lining problems and leaky gut.
She suggested 50% of my diet should be from raw vegetables.

I'll have to work on this issue some more.

MOM

[lynnie_sydney]

Mom that's a very good point you make. Your gatroenerologist said that. On another thread, it was suggested that our problems may NOT be best left to doctors. Maybe a part of that is that the different specialisations dont TALK WITH EACH OTHER! They narrowly focus on one part of the human body and dont seem to get – or perhaps forget- that everything is connected. Time and time again, we hear the people who focus on aspects of the gut tell us that the gut is they key to so many of our ills.

Maybe that is why we often do best getting onto AP with the better general practitoners who DO see or, at least, are willing to accept, that problems in one part of us are causing problems in another and who ARE willing to treat us accordingly. Lynnie 

Oh and, I should add, who DO realise we also have a brain that is connected to the rest of us!  :doh:

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[lynnie_sydney]

Tiff – re your question about how my family deal with my diet. At the moment, my 'live-in' family is my dog. He's not at all fazed by my new eating regime. As for family-type-friends, well they're very supportive. A few have become used to me bringing my own pack of bread, malt-free soy milk etc etc when I visit. A couple have developed a taste for my very expensive French vodka (only alcohol i'm allowed). so no biggie for me. Different for you though. I feel for you. Though maybe it will get some focus by the family on more healthy eating, which cant be a bad result. Lynnie

PS kind of off-topic but interesting re the dog. he's been wheat and gluten-free for ever  (I gave up buying any commercial dog food years ago when another dog of mine became a celiac!It all has grain in it). Alot of holistic vets will tell u putting an arthritic older dog on a fresh balanced diet will often see their arthritis resolve. My 10 year old dog runs and moves like a 5 year old!

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[Tiff]

Lynnie,

Ah, that does make it easier.  My father-in-law has followed a very healthy diet for years and he told me it sure helps that he lives alone.  BTW, he is 62 and the most active, healthy person in all of both my hubby's and my family.  He skies, bikes, plays sports.  This winter he went ice climbing with my kids!  Even my active hubby bailed on that one!

I have a friend who “cooks” for her dogs.  She was the only one who did not have flea problems last year.  Interesting.  My dog is not so lucky, but she does get the leftovers when I make stock, and I have to say, she and my kitty think that is pretty great!  They are a lot more grateful than my kids about the health food stuff, but they don't do dishes!  :roll-laugh:

My family has definitely become more food conscious!  Not only them, but I have some close friends who have made HUGE changes in eating from the info I shared with them.  They are very supportive but live far away.

 

 

[Author]

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