What is a good Lyme disease diet ?

Hey...

Post Edited (JohnIsCooper) : 6/19/2019 5:33:00 PM (GMT-6)

No definitive answer for all, sorry...

I think rule of thumb in diet for lyme and other diseases are something like:

1) avoid processed foods (the foods you buy ready), but cook.
Put your microwave out of the kitchen, so that you cook, warm foods in pots, etc

2) when you buy something, read the labels. If you see too many additives, don't buy it.

3) prefer organic to non-organic, specially for animal products (milk, meat...).
Because animals accumulate MANY more toxins than plants as they are higher in the food chain.

4) avoid or diminish sugar. White, brown, all types of added sugar. So no sodas, no sweets etc.
If you can't avoid, just lower the amount in the beginning.
That ALONE helps virtually anyone. More energy, less candida, less bacteria...

5) with lyme, many people cannot tolerate alcohol. If you drink, prefer fermented alcohols like wine or beer. At least, there are good things in wine and beer (if there are not many additives in them).

6) with lyme, you got to avoid gluten. At least, many practitioners think that gluten is too hard to digest, if it doesn't cause even more serious gut problems. And that most patients profit from cutting gluten (specially for neuro and gut problems).

My daughter cut gluten last year, she was taking all colds that ran in her school, and since then, she fell ill with the flu once, 10 months after she stopped it. Stopping gluten alone gave her a super boost in her immune system!

7) there are many EAV tests you can do to look for food sensibility. The reason EAV is better than blood exams, is that blood exams miss most of the food problems. EAV uses electrodermal testing, and is much more sensitive to problems caused by food.

With lyme, in my opinion, cutting allergens improve fatigue almost immediately.

8) increase the amount of fresh veggies and fruits. Lettuce, greens help with energy, feed our mitochondria, helps detox, for example. If you can't digest fresh, initially cook these, add probiotics, or eat fermented foods, then try again.

I like the feeling of fresh veggies and fruits because I feel those antioxidants coming to my brain, minutes after ingestion.

9) some practitioners think that milk products cause inflammation. I'm trying to cut that for the moment, but it is hard for me. So I'm doing slowly, diminishing consumption, finding substitutes.

10) do the transition SMOOTHLY. You can't change everything in one day.
Just do one step after another, it is more comfortable and do-able then!

Correcting diet is something that pays back a lot in my opinion.

I guess the hardest part, when you cut foods, is to find substitutes, at least, in the beginning.

Zero grain for me is like zero meat: it feels wrong to my body.

But I know everyone is different! and maybe it's just a phase, and in the future, I can do something like either a paleo or a macrob ONLY.

I eat also a lot of nuts and dry fruits.

During lyme I couldn't eat nuts, as I reacted with allergies to almost all nuts.

It's been a slow process, but now I can eat ALL NUTS. It's almost unbelievable for me. Eating nuts and seeds give you a good feeling, less hunger I mean.

And the dry fruits, I can only eat them in large amounts because my candida is dormant.

I'm recently on an avocado craze. I'm eating one or two a day, minimum, and I always feel I need more! It seems my body keeps asking for it for more than a month, daily!

If I eat all that, my body is happy, so I can only consume healthy foods without feeling miserable.

There is no one "Lyme diet" that will work for everyone - first of all, if you can't afford to buy the foods required, then it's hard to stick to the diet. I would LOVE to be all organic and grass fed meats only - but unless I can raise it/grow it myself, that's not going to happen without someone offering to buy nearly all my food for me.

The basics are to avoid fast food, and as many prepared foods (that come in a box) as possible.
No sugar, as it encourages yeast/fungal issues.
Many can't tolerate dairy - I used raw goat milk and used to make all my own dairy products, but since I can no longer care for the goats, I have gone to almond milk and no longer have dairy in my diet.
Eat all the vegetables you can - the more color the better.

The point is to get as much nutrition into your body as you can (balanced though) as your body will need all the nutrition it can get to fight these infections.

I'm one of those that needs grains in my diet - not much, but some - or I start to feel a lot worse. So I keep it to mostly "alternative grains", like quinoa, amaranth and others.

Jinna, dried fruit (love the stuff myself) has a lot of sugar in it though. Those with possible yeast or fungal issues should stay away from dried fruit. I don't have yeast or fungal issues, but my innerds have an issue with sugar, so I have to avoid it too, as the natural sugars in fruit become concentrated as it dries. I do still make dried fruit snacks for my grandkids though!

I tend to agree with Michael Pollan's pithy statement: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Other advice that I think makes sense:

- Eat food "as grown." (e.g. Eat olives instead of olive oil.)
- If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.
- If man made it, don't eat it.
- Eat more vegetables than anything else.

In other words, eat whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods. Of course, avoid any foods to which you are allergic or sensitive. Otherwise, I tend to think simpler is better. Beware of fads.

That's just my opinion.

This makes all my postings worth it to know. So glad to help! Traveler! The stuff works! I attest. It's legit. (TAURINE) It's not expensive either, I bought some in bulk so I always have some on hand.

Now about the neurotoxic MSG, aka umami that occurs naturally as a delicious meat flavor in the gristle when you brown and sear meats in a hot pan. Well some Japanese scientists figured out how to make a synthetic form of this. Now, any artificial flavor smoke foods, cured meats, cheese, potato chips, most soups they load that darn stuff in everything and call it yeast extract, and like dozens of other synonyms. I read nutrition labels like a nerd and cheesus I always see corn additives, sugar and MSG in everything and I'm like bleh and nope. A little umami is good but food co's blast it on everything because it's a cheap way to make bland processed foods taste good.

edited: with a brief history of MSG

Post Edited (borrelioburgdorferii) : 5/31/2017 7:48:38 PM (GMT-6)