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Food and the Tipping Point

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Posted 2/27/2017 6:12 AM (GMT 0)
My nutritionist put me on the low Fodmap diet which I've been following as best I can. I don't have the energy to cook so we order from really great, organic places in town. We're lucky, we have plenty of good, locally sourced, organic, grass fed places nearby. Because I have SIBO, IBS, Candida, and Hashimoto's, I'm not sure the FODmap is the end all be all.

Today I'm bloated, my tongue is swollen and my joints are EXTRA achy. I had three items I rarely eat: Little mushroom patties, vegetarian spring rolls, gluten-free almond flour crackers. I had the tiniest bit of peanut sauce, but I'm not allergic to peanuts. Today I feel worse than I've felt in a while. Thankfully I'm not dizzy, but the achiness is out of control.

The problem with FODmap is it says one thing is OK, but the Candida diet says no. Candida says yes, IBS says no. IBS says yes, Hashimoto's says no. I'm struggling. I'm getting to the point where I don't want to eat because everything upsets my stomach.

I don't know. Maybe I just needed to vent. Has anyone found the magic bullet? What the heck do you eat when you can't eat anything? I do have bone broth, but my diet is SO restrictive, I'm losing my mind.

Post Edited (KristenBee) : 2/26/2017 11:26:14 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/27/2017 6:49 AM (GMT 0)
I would stick to basic food...nothing processed.

Often my dinners are chicken breast or pork tenderloin - cooked in the oven with a big salad.
very plain, but I actually like it now. I've gotten used to eating plain foods.

my salad - is Romaine lettuce, a few carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, avocado, fresh basil, with olive oil and red wine vinegar drizzled over...and a little bit of honey.
(I'm probably missing some of the ingredients...can't think right now)

I don't get an upset stomach from anything at this point...so I'm probably not much help.
Posted 2/27/2017 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry you are having to deal with so many issues. Things will get better. One thing that I say is that in today's world, there is no good food. Even when you eat the food that is "good," there are negatives that go along with it. We just need to do the best we can comparing the good vs the bad. I'll use seafood as an example. We know that eating too much big predator fish increases mercury levels and that eating shrimp increases unwanted pollutants and metals as well. But we need the omega-3 from the fish and the iodine from the shrimp. Our body tells us to eat things that it needs and in the past, the negative effects of eating these foods was very low. Now the negative effects are much higher and in some cases, they outweigh the benefits. Our environment is just too polluted.

As for your situation, hang in there. Supplement with a well rounded multivitamin and stay the course. Things often get a little worse before they get better and that is why you are aching and hurting more. As those pathogens die off, the inflammation increases taxes your immune system. Stretching or movement is good so do what you can, just start slow and gradually increase.
Posted 2/27/2017 2:03 PM (GMT 0)
Something else to consider is food allergies that you may not realize you have yet. I used to have those same symptoms every time I ate - and by doing an elimination diet, I discovered that I'm highly allergic to soy (and you won't believe how many foods have soy in them!) and very sensitive to MSG. I can eat organic wheat products, but not non-organic wheat (intolerance to chemicals used most likely). By default, this means that I have a very restrictive diet, but I feel so much better sticking to it.

While I still hate eating (I have zero appetite and rarely feel hunger), it's gotten a lot better since finding and avoiding my allergens.

If you don't have any other allergies to contend with, you can print out the 'approved' food lists and compare them all to see what you can and can't eat, and then come up with your own list - if you haven't yet. And remember, this won't last the rest of your life - it's only until you can heal some of those things.

Don't forget things like protein shakes (but watch the ingredients) and "simple" foods, as Girlie was talking about.
Posted 2/27/2017 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for being so supportive here. You have no idea how much I appreciate you all being here.

Some days the emotional aspects of Lyme are probably worse than the physical - on Lyme-Bad scale. It really is an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes it feel like, really? what now??

Thanks for the advice <3
Posted 2/27/2017 2:40 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, I think we can all agree that we feel the same way - I think often "what now???" LOL! Hang in there!
Posted 2/27/2017 2:43 PM (GMT 0)
We've done the low fodmap diet for years. My son has fructose malabsorption and gets SIBO sometimes too. There is an awesome app put out by Monash University that makes it really easy to look up foods for fodmap content. A good book is IBS: Free at last by Patsy Catsos. If you do full on elimination diet, you can pinpoint what bothers you. It might not be all fodmaps but maybe just fructose/fructans. Or maybe sugar alcohols. Etc. it has a steep learning curve but it changed my son's life!
Posted 2/27/2017 3:01 PM (GMT 0)
Interestingly enough I am not allergic to peanuts, BUT after not eating them for over 18 months due to extremely restrictive diet, when I did eat organic peanut butter I felt awful. I had a very painful ache in my back over both of my lungs. Strange. Ok, didn't eat peanut butter again for a month or two and tried it again and the same thing happened. So, no allergy (I've had food testing done - it was a life saver by the way and worth every penny), but I can't eat peanuts. Traditionally grown peanuts are a very "dirty" food loaded in GMO's and pesticides BTW.

Once you figure out what your issues are and re-set your digestion strange things come up sometimes. It took me about 18 months to get cleaned up and as I said, the food testing was a life saver for me and helped me cut out foods that I reacted to. My leaky gut healed, my digestion healed and now I can eat pretty much anything now but still try to walk the line most of the time. Doing this helped me figure out what my body could and couldn't handle.

Good luck! You'll get there. I had several good cries over the fact that there was nothing I could eat. So frustrating. You'll work through it though - just listen to your body. Even if it's something that they say is good for you, if your body can't digest it, it's not good for you - remember that.

Jenny
Posted 2/27/2017 6:53 PM (GMT 0)
ChickNorris Yes, I have the app. It's been a lifesaver.

jennysetter I forgot, because I was in the middle of feeling bad. It's true, when you go off something for a while and then back on, your body reacts different. I figure the two culprits were peanuts and soy - two big no-nos. I've learned my lesson. Just stay away! LOL
Posted 2/27/2017 7:35 PM (GMT 0)
I looked into foodmap, but choose whole30 version of paleo because of no milk products, no grains, no soy, no sugar, no startch like white potatoes - obviously no chemical preservatives either. Almost month 2. Gut feels good now, think I had some type of sibo.
Posted 2/27/2017 11:38 PM (GMT 0)

astroman said...
I looked into foodmap, but choose whole30 version of paleo because of no milk products, no grains, no soy, no sugar, no startch like white potatoes - obviously no chemical preservatives either. Almost month 2. Gut feels good now, think I had some type of sibo.

Yeah, I have to modify the FODmap - I don't do dairy except for eggs. Gonna look into The Whole30.
Posted 2/28/2017 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
Also keep in mind that the terrain often changes. Sometimes things just need to heal.
Posted 2/28/2017 5:28 AM (GMT 0)
I have had food allergies for years. Its not so bad these days the long standing ones didnt go - like ginger and olive oil but so many have shifted. Kinesiology helped with some of them, so did liver detoxing. I went on an elimination diet starting with foods I know I have no problem and adding something new and testing if there is a reaction to it. If your body is reacting to foods or herbs it holds up the healing process so working out what works in harmony with your body for now will probably go further to helping you overcome allergies in the long run. At least that has been my experience. All the best.
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