how do you do it? with the diet and constant taking of meds?

What I do is shift my focus. If you think about what you can't have, You will crave that. The human brain can't think in a void. For example, if I said

"Don't think of the color blue" you know you thought of it, you can't not.

So think of that with your diet. Think of what you can have and how it will help you

Eat veggies and think of how they are helping you. When you are hungry ask yourself what will nourish you.

Also plan ahead. If you can make larger portions then parse them out of later it makes food easier. I make my smoothies the night before.

But most important is to look at your diet not as what you can't eat, but how what you can eat will help you.

I also created some associations in my mind to bad foods, I see dairy and I see mucous, gluten makes me think of physcal muscle pain, sugar makes me think of bacteria growing.

Greens make me see vibrance and health, sweet potatoes look like energy to me.

Reframe your mindset about your diet and you will start to find that going with the flow is just easier. You'll slip up, be gentle on yourself, and then pick up and crave some cucumber.

I cheat too, but I plan my cheats. Like once every few weeks I have a cheese free, GF pizza and I relish every bit of it. To "normal" people that's not a cheat, to me, it's pure heaven.

My nutritionist wants me off of all grains, but she's fine with squash and sweet potatoes (a near perfect food).

After you have been on the proper diet for a while, you will notice symptoms returning if you eat something you shouldn't.  Brain fog and muscle pain are my indications that I have been eating too many carbs.  It's taken a while, but I too see pain etc. when I look at food I shouldn't be eating.  Careful of too many sweet potatoes, they contain a lot of oxalates.

Love said it perfectly !! I look at what I CAN eat, not what I CAN'T!

If I focus on what I can't...then I'd be in bad condition.

I look at sugars and starches like poison. That's what they are to me.

I don't cheat much..only with a handful of berries or a grapefruit. Or maybe 4 weeks ago I had some brown rice. That's it. I really don't cheat. I don't eat starches of any kind (even veggies) no sugar or processed foods or dairy. I wash everything. I'm neurotic.:( I just want to get better so badly. I also have a hard time spacing out abx, supplements and probiodics, but I do it. I did miss a probiodic dose last night :( but I've been pretty diligent because I feel these bugs are punishing me and I want to punish them right back!!!! I'm very stubborn and determined. I won't lie and say indont have my breaking moments (everyone on here knows I do)

Be strong..don't let the bugs win!! I visualize them dying when I'm stuffing my face with veggies while hubby eats cookies lol.

For me it helps to print out schedules, and then I have an app on my phone to remind me in case I lose track of time (although it's just as easy to set a regular alarm on most cell phones). It might take a little time but if you just sit down and write out when to take this and when to take that so that everything is spaced properly so it won't interact with anything, then just keep the schedule somewhere you'll always see it, I think it helps.

As for the diet...I actually do the same thing - I make a schedule! I know it sounds a little much (and it is) but I started a strict paleo diet and what made it easy to stick to it was to plan out every meal and every snack for the week in advance. It's so much easier to stick to a diet when you know exactly what you're supposed to eat, rather than getting hungry and thinking, "hmm, what to eat, what to eat?" and then getting tempted by all the "bad" foods around you!

I've always been a big fan of carbs and starches, so I totally get what a challenge it can be! One little trick that used to work pretty well for me was to let myself eat all the carbs and grains, but also make sure I'm eating all the necessary stuff too. It takes away the pressure of thinking you "can't" have certain things, but a lot of times I'd find myself not hungry because I'd already eaten too many vegetables or something.

I think it also helps to eat little bits here and there rather than big meals - if you never let yourself get hungry, you may be less likely to give into temptation. But if you do - it's not the end of the world. I cheat from time to time to - it's a lot to ask for us to go through all of this and NEVER eat a sweet or a starchy vegetable! Do the best you can - that's all you can do!