Lyme diet

Hey guys, so I was just trying to see if you all will share some of the meals you make yourselves. Before these health issues I ate anything I wanted. So most of the time it wasn’t something good for me. Now that I’m forced to eat healthy, when I’ve never had to I’m kinda clueless. My week usually consist of a lot of organic meat & a lot of fruit.

I try to keep it simple - my dinners are usually meat plus a large salad.

Or once in a while GF pasta with tomato/basil sauce (homemade)

Once a week I make chicken curry on rice with vegetables.

Dressing on my salad is olive oil, balsamic or red wine vinegar and some honey drizzled on top.

The salad: lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, avocado, and fresh basil

My breakfast is often leftovers from previous nights dinner - or a couple eggs on toast.
Sometimes I make oatmeal porridge - add raisins and a drizzle of milk.

I tend to skip lunch sometimes - usually when my breakfast is later - and then I may just have a piece of fruit and thhen an early dinner.

Note: I don’t seem to react to any foods.

I'm honestly shocked not to see a dozen replies that enthusiastically proclaim keto, paleo, and carnivore diets to be the route to healing.... Diet can be powerful, and I understand why people are excited to share ideas they find helpful, especially when there's lots of media validating their choices.

From what I have read, people find the most benefit from: no sugar of any kind, no dairy, no gluten, no processed foods, organic food, bone broth, fermented foods, healthy fats, no caffeine, and clean water. Some people additionally find specific diets helpful if they have gut issues (low lectin, FODMAP) or mast cell issues (low histamine).

Personally, I strive to include more sea vegetables in my diet, and more variety, and to eat as seasonally as possible. Before I realized I had mast cell issues (and therefore could not have high-histamine foods) I ate a lot of miso soup and kombucha, which are wonderful for you if you don't have MCAS! When I'm feeling really bad, my body wants only a few specific things, so I'll describe those:

- Rice noodles with olive oil, chopped olives, and steamed cauliflower and carrots.
- Tofu lightly sautéed with tamari (a gluten-free soy sauce)
- Apples
- Smoothie made with coconut oil, coconut milk, pea protein powder, bananas, and ginger
- Sesame noodles (rice noodles with tamari, tahini, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic)
- Roasted vegetables (beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, etc.)

In general, I'd say find ways to eat as many vegetables as you can, minimize sugar and gluten, and cut out processed stuff. Aim for organic when possible. Lightly stir-fried veggies with rice or quinoa, chilis and soups, salads, burritos, oatmeal, granola, homemade popcorn, fruit, smoothies, pilafs. Find hot sauces and dressings you like to jazz up things you find boring or hard to adjust to. I'm vegan so I don't have advice about meat and eggs, but I know others can weigh in on those.

If you have trouble giving up sugar and processed carbs, then please know that if you do eliminate them, then you WILL stop craving them, but it's going to be a carby crave-fest for a few weeks while your body adjusts.

The hardest part about dietary changes can be that most people's lives are not set up for healthier eating. Restaurants that serve good food tend not to be fast or cheap or common. Learning a new skill like cooking nutritiously is HARD when you are sick and trying to manage all the other parts of your life. Events you go to might not have much for you to eat, which can feel like another thing our illnesses are taking away from us. While conventional grocery stores are getting better in the selection they offer, natural food stores can be few and far between. Don't feel bad if you feel like you can't manage the "perfect" diet or if you "mess up" a lot. Just do what you can.

Max- I understand this is a general question, but the answer is what works to lower YOUR inflammation, which will be a little different from others. No diet works for everyone besides the obvious first step of eliminating junk food / sugar ect..

I started trying different foods and noting results about 11 years ago. Then refined a lot more 5 years ago and every so often after that to this day.

After lyme treatment, I also did food cytokin release testing ($350-400) to take some guesswork away.

The result? 10 year old thyroid nodule disappeared (per ultra sound), thyroid antibodies normalizing, and now decrease in thyroid med after 20 years of increases.

I highly recommend getting tested for food allergies as that really helped me-especially with the neuro issues. Anyhoo I was NO dairy, eggs, yeast, sugar, wheat, lettuce and I could have small portions of chicken and almonds. Thankfully after I went into remission I was slowly able to reintroduce those foods and after 3ish years I was back to eating normal. If you like sour cream and cream cheese Tofetti is a great brand (obviously made from tofu) and it has the same taste and texture as the real stuff. You can also use 1 large tablespoon of sugar free applesauce to replace an egg when you are baking. Note this may make it more moist so feel free to cut back on how much water/oil you add. Detoxinista.com also has some great recipes and ways to substitute food that was a life saver. Some easy meals I like are:

Kielbasa Hash: chop turkey kielbasa, potatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and broccoli into bite size pieces. Drizzle olive oil and your favorite spices (a BBQ dry rub or Greek Seasoning is always good) over the top and toss around to make sure everything is coated. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven at 375 for 20-30 minutes. Basically until the potato chunks are fork tender.

Veggie Spaghetti: Cook your fav GF pasta or rice pasta as your normally would. Meanwhile in a deep pan sauté yellow squash, zucchini and garlic with olive oil salt, pepper, a tiny pinch of chili powder and greek seasoning until the veggies are nice and tender. Drain the pasta and add to the veggies. According to how much pasta you cooked you may want to add more olive oil-especially if you are reheating leftovers. Grilled chicken is also a nice addition to this pasta.

jb1994 said...


astroman - what treatment got you to lower thyroid meds? Mine are pretty high right now, I think I'm about at the max and won't need to keep increasing but geez I sure hope I can lower them soon. 2 grains armor, and 30mcg T3 seems excessive..

I wrote a few posts on this here and there. After lyme treatment, I went 100% Paleo for maybe 6 months, 95% gluten free then added a few things. That helped but I platowed fast.

Then I heard about food cytokin release testing ($350-400) to take some guesswork away. Its a big step up from allergy testing. It tests 170 common "American" foods and spices/additives with your blood and measures cytokin release.

Its called Leap MRT (Mediator Response Testing) blood test. Way better than guessing or going with the latest "fad" diet. Its rates these foods on a scale and color of green yellow and red. You go on the green diet, slowly add back whats on yellow, while taking note and never eat whats listed under "red" again, which has been seven months for myself so far.

My "red list" was five food items long, gluten and corn being the highest , worst percent; I am not celiac though. Cane sugar was third. So much for natural sugar being touted as safe and natural lol. This is the longest time ive been 100% glutan free and near 100% free of all corn products and corn "chemicals/sugars". Im no longer pure Paleo either, I eat some other grains and the tasty new canyon bakehouse GF bread (but not everyday). I need to watch "FODMAPS" too - too much gives me SIBO, apples and watermelon being the biggest SIBO contributors.

Max01:

Here's something that might be worth considering:

https://vitalplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/the-vital-plan-diet.pdf

I don't agree with all of Dr. Rawls' ideas, when it comes to diet. But, that's okay. I think a person should spend time determining what works best for them. So, the above guide could be a starting point, should you choose to look into it.

For me, I seem to do best when not going to any extreme. For example, not excluding an entire macronutrient group, such as carbohydrates. (I also recognize that broccoli is a "carb" and I don't confuse that with Skittles.) As I have an allergy to shellfish, that's a specific food I avoid. Otherwise, the way I mostly approach food is to eat things that can be found in nature, prepare them appropriately, and avoid things that seem to bother me.

Personally, I eat beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, and the infrequent piece of fish (maybe 1-2 times a year). To a small piece of animal protein, I add such things as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, corn, potatoes, beans, white rice, avocado, onions, green beans, carrots, greens, nuts, seeds, squashes, and fruits such as apples, strawberries, wild blueberries, blackberries (my favorite), pineapple, etc. So, a bit of animal protein, starchy and/or non-starchy vegetables, white rice (a personal preference), beans, nuts, seeds, and fruit. Over-and-over, this is what seems to work best for me.

I mentioned this is how I "mostly" approach food, because I also sometimes eat ice cream, cookies, potato chips, etc. For me, I've not noticed any benefit from excluding such indulgences or harm from including them. This is where individuality comes into play. Granted, I eat the "best" versions of these items (made from few ingredients that are recognizable), but I certainly don't encourage one to have a health-food-store version of a junk-food diet. They are infrequent indulgences and I don't punish myself for the thought before eating them nor feel guilt after doing so.

Find what works for you, do that until it no longer works, then repeat.

Good luck on your path.

Why do you need to refill your liver glycogen?

My understanding is keto is 20g net carbs or less a day

Some great wisdom, borrelioburgdorferii.