My Gastro Intestinal Purgatory
I checked my allergy tests from years ago and found that I have severe intolerance to cow cheese, cow casein, cow albumin, goat cheese, plus trout, cod, haddock and tuna. I have moderate intolerances to butter, yoghurt, herring, mackerel, salmon, halibut, whitefish, shrimp, sardine and (darn it all), kiwi, strawberries, cranberries and blueberries. Plus many herbs. I’m mildly intolerant of staples like bananas, mint, eggs, sesame seeds, almonds and most meats and organs. I am tolerant of soy products, most nuts (hazelnut, walnut, cashew), beans (kidney, lentils, soy), melons, cold crop grains (barley, rye, oats, amaranth, millet, rice, buckwheat), and most green vegetables. What meat am I tolerant to? Chicken, and lobster for goodness sakes!
So messing with my diet has turned on all sorts of flashing lights with a crisis of conscience, feeling so ill after eating, wretching, constant flu-ish symptoms and a paralysis around what to prepare for my children.
I am now decanting the giant pot of turkey broth that I stewed for 20 hours. I am saving the fat and juice in jars in the fridge and going to save bottles of soup base. I’m mildly intolerant to turkey, but much more intolerant of eggs and beef and other meats.
I am seeing a naturopath next month to sort this out. I’m so glad I learned and thought through through a lot in this course, but I need to learn more to resolve my inner and digestive turmoil!
My teacher replied:
So many allergies is usually a sign of poor gut health. I would highly recommend eating a gut-healing diet like the GAPS Diet for a while to rebuild your gut lining and improve your ability to digest these foods without any toxic/allergenic side effects. Perhaps before your naturopath visit, you could research the GAPS Diet and print out the most relevant information for him/her. Then you could present it in an informed way and ask for their input/opinion.
Here's the recommended diet, with my notes and challenges in bold, and the things I don't eat anyhow struck out. In red are foods to which I am perfectly tolerant = yay!
THE FULL GAPS DIET from http://www.gapsdiet.com/The_Diet.html
For many GAPS patients, the diet should be followed for two years at least. The book Gut & Psychology Syndrome will provide recipes and more explanation about the diet.
The best foods are eggs (if tolerated), fresh meats (not preserved), fish, shellfish, fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts and seeds, garlic and olive oil. Well, I shouldn't eat eggs, fish, or shellfish except for lobster!!! Apart from eating vegetables cooked, it is important to have some raw vegetables with meals, as they contain vital enzymes to assist digestion of the meats. Check! Fruit should be eaten on their own, not with meals, as they have a very different digestion pattern and can make the work harder for the stomach. Fruit should be given as a snack between meals. Check!
It is very important to have plenty of natural fats in every meal from meats, butter, ghee, coconut (if tolerated) and cold pressed olive oil. Check! Animal fats on meats are particularly valuable. Xnay the bacon, then! Fermented foods (sauerkraut, yogurt, and kefir) are also a very important part of this diet in addition to homemade meat or fish stock. It is recommended to take a cup of warm meat or fish stock with every meal as a drink as well as soups and stews made with the meat or fish stock. The stock, kefir and fermented vegetables will over time restore the stomach acid production, which will improve digestion.
It is best to avoid processed foods (any packet or tinned foods). Check! They are stripped from most nutrients that were present in the fresh ingredients used for making these foods. They are a hard work for the digestive system and they damage the healthy gut flora balance. On top of that they usually contain a lot of artificial chemicals, detrimental to health, like preservatives, colorants, etc. Try to buy foods in the form that nature made them, as fresh as possible. Check!
RECOMMENDED FOODS
Almonds, including almond butter and oil
Apples mild intolerance
Apricots, fresh or dried
Artichoke, French
Asiago cheese
Asparagus
Aubergine (eggplant) Moderate intolerance
Avocados, including avocado oil
Bananas (ripe only with brown spots on the skin) Moderate intolerance
Beans, dried white (navy), string beans and lima
beans
Beef, fresh or frozen Moderate intolerance to organs, mild to beef
Beets or beetroot
Berries, all kinds Moderate intolerance to blueberries, strawberries and cranberries
Black, white and red pepper: ground and pepper corns Mild intolerance
Black radish
Blue cheese
Bok Choy
Brazil nuts
Brick cheese
Brie cheese
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Butter
Cabbage
Camembert cheese
Canned fish in oil or water only
Capers
Carrots
Cashew nuts, fresh only
Cauliflower
Cayenne pepper
Celeriac
Celery Mild intolerance
Cellulose in supplements
Cheddar cheese
Cherimoya (custard apple or sharifa)
Cherries
Chestnuts
Chicken, fresh or frozen
Cinnamon
Citric acid
Coconut, fresh or dried (shredded) without any
additives
Coconut milk
Coconut oil
Coffee, weak and freshly made, not instant Mild intolerance
Collard greens
Colby cheese
Courgette
Coriander, fresh or dried
Cucumber
Dates, fresh or dried without any additives (not
soaked in syrup)
Dill, fresh or dried
Duck, fresh or frozen
Edam cheese
Eggplant (aubergine) Moderate intolerance
Eggs, fresh Moderate intolerance
Filberts
Fish, fresh or frozen, canned in its juice or oil
Game, fresh or frozen
Garlic
Ghee, home-made
Gin, occasionally
Ginger root, fresh
Goose, fresh or frozen
Gorgonzola cheese
Gouda cheese
Grapefruit
Grapes
Havarti cheese
Hazelnuts
Herbal teas intolerant to cardamom, mints
Herbs, fresh or dried without additives intolerant to basil, savory, bay leaves, curry, vanilla
Honey, natural
Juices freshly pressed from permitted fruit and vegetables
Kale
Kiwi fruit Moderate intolerance
Kumquats
Lamb, fresh or frozen
Lemons
Lentils
Lettuce, all kinds
Lima beans (dried and fresh)
Limburger cheese
Limes
Mangoes
Meats, fresh or frozen
Melons honeydew, cantaloupe
Monterey (Jack) cheese
Muenster cheese
Mushrooms
Mustard seeds, pure powder and gourmet types without any non-allowed ingredients
Nectarines
Nut flour or ground nuts (usually ground blanched almonds)
Nutmeg
Nuts, all kinds freshly shelled, not roasted, salted or coated
Olive oil, virgin cold-pressed
Olives preserved without sugar or any other non-allowed ingredients
Onions
Oranges
Papayas
Parmesan cheese
Parsley
Peaches
Peanut butter, without additives
Peanuts, fresh or roasted in their shells
Pears
Peas, dried split and fresh green
Pecans
Peppers (green, yellow, red, and orange)
Pheasant, fresh or frozen
Pickles, without sugar or any other non-allowed ingredients
Pigeon, fresh or frozen
Pineapples, fresh Mild intolerance
Pork, fresh or frozen
Port du Salut cheese
Poultry, fresh or frozen
Prunes, dried without any additives or in their own juice
Pumpkin Moderate intolerance
Quail, fresh or frozen
Raisins
Rhubarb
Roquefort cheese
Romano cheese
Satsumas
Scotch, occasionally
Shellfish, fresh or frozen I am intolerant to all fish and seafood except for lobster. Bizarre.
Spices, single and pure without any additives intolerances to cardamom, curry
Spinach
Squash (summer and winter)
Stilton cheese
String beans
Swiss cheese
Tangerines
Tea, weak freshly made, not instant Moderate intolerance
Tomatoes: puree or juice, pure without any additives apart from salt Mild intolerance
Turkey, fresh or frozen Mild intolerance
Turnips
Ugly fruit
Uncreamed cottage cheese (dry curd)
Vinegar (cider or white); make sure there is no allergy
Vodka, very occasionally Moderate intolerance
Walnuts
Watercress
Wine dry: red or white Moderate intolerance to white and red wines
Yogurt, home-made
Zucchini
FOODS TO AVOID
Acesulphame
Acidophilus milk
Agar-agar
Agave syrup
Algae - can aggravate an already disturbed immune
system
Aloe Vera - please go to "FAQs" for additional information
Amaranth - is a grain substitute, contains starches
Apple juice - usually has sugar added during
processing
Arrowroot - is a mucilaginous herb and loaded with
starch
Aspartame
Astragalus - contains polysaccharides
Baked beans
Baker's yeast - contains saccharamyces cerevisae
Baking powder and raising agents of all kind
Balsamic vinegar - most found in stores have added
sugar
Barley
Bean flour and sprouts
Bee pollen - irritating to a damaged gut
Beer
Bhindi or okra
Bicarbonate of soda
Bitter Gourd
Black eye beans
Bologna
Bouillon cubes or granules
Brandy
Buckwheat
Bulgur
Burdock root - contains FOS and mucilage
Butter beans
Buttermilk
Canellini beans
Canned vegetables and fruit
Carob
Carrageenan - is seaweed and high in
polysaccharides
Cellulose gum
Cereals, including all breakfast cereals
Cheeses, processed and cheese spreads
Chestnut flour
Chevre cheese
Chewing gum - contain sugars or sugar substitutes
Chick peas
Chickory root - contains high amounts of FOS
Chocolate Moderate intolerance
Cocoa powder - please see "FAQs" for more information
Coffee, instant and coffee substitutes
Cooking oils
Cordials
Corn
Cornstarch
Corn syrup
Cottage cheese
Cottonseed
Cous-cous
Cream - contains lactose
Cream of Tartar
Cream cheese
Dextrose - in commercial products it is not the pure
form
Drinks, soft
Faba beans
Feta cheese
Fish, preserved, smoked, salted, breaded and canned
with sauces
Flour, made out of grains
FOS (fructooligosaccharides)
Fructose - extracted from corn and has a mixture of
other trisaccharides
Fruit, canned or preserved
Garbanzo beans
Gjetost cheese
Grains, all
Gruyere cheese
Ham
Hot dogs
Ice-cream, commercial
Jams
Jellies
Jerusalem artichoke
Ketchup, commercially available
Lactose
Liqueurs
Margarines and butter replacements
Meats, processed, preserved, smoked and salted
Millet
Milk from any animal, soy, rice, canned coconut milk
Milk, dried
Molasses
Mozzarella cheese
Mungbeans
Neufchatel cheese
Nutra-sweet (aspartame)
Nuts, salted, roasted and coated
Oats
Okra - mucilaginous food
Parsnips
Pasta, of any kind
Pectin
Postum
Potato white
Potato sweet
Primost cheese
Quinoa - 60% starch
Rice
Ricotta cheese
Rye
Saccharin
Sago
Sausages, commercially available
Seaweed
Semolina
Sherry
Soda soft drinks
Sour cream commercial
Soy
Spelt
Starch
Sugar or sucrose of any kind
Tapioca - starch
Tea, instant
Triticale
Turkey loaf
Vegetables, canned or preserved
Wheat
Wheat germ
Whey, powder or liquid
Yams
Yogurt, commercial
While this diet is very close to the SCD, there are a few changes. One important difference is that the GAPS diet removes casein in addition to lactose in the beginning stages of the diet.
So messing with my diet has turned on all sorts of flashing lights with a crisis of conscience, feeling so ill after eating, wretching, constant flu-ish symptoms and a paralysis around what to prepare for my children.
I am now decanting the giant pot of turkey broth that I stewed for 20 hours. I am saving the fat and juice in jars in the fridge and going to save bottles of soup base. I’m mildly intolerant to turkey, but much more intolerant of eggs and beef and other meats.
I am seeing a naturopath next month to sort this out. I’m so glad I learned and thought through through a lot in this course, but I need to learn more to resolve my inner and digestive turmoil!
My teacher replied:
So many allergies is usually a sign of poor gut health. I would highly recommend eating a gut-healing diet like the GAPS Diet for a while to rebuild your gut lining and improve your ability to digest these foods without any toxic/allergenic side effects. Perhaps before your naturopath visit, you could research the GAPS Diet and print out the most relevant information for him/her. Then you could present it in an informed way and ask for their input/opinion.
Here's the recommended diet, with my notes and challenges in bold, and the things I don't eat anyhow struck out. In red are foods to which I am perfectly tolerant = yay!
THE FULL GAPS DIET from http://www.gapsdiet.com/The_Diet.html
For many GAPS patients, the diet should be followed for two years at least. The book Gut & Psychology Syndrome will provide recipes and more explanation about the diet.
The best foods are eggs (if tolerated), fresh meats (not preserved), fish, shellfish, fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts and seeds, garlic and olive oil. Well, I shouldn't eat eggs, fish, or shellfish except for lobster!!! Apart from eating vegetables cooked, it is important to have some raw vegetables with meals, as they contain vital enzymes to assist digestion of the meats. Check! Fruit should be eaten on their own, not with meals, as they have a very different digestion pattern and can make the work harder for the stomach. Fruit should be given as a snack between meals. Check!
It is very important to have plenty of natural fats in every meal from meats, butter, ghee, coconut (if tolerated) and cold pressed olive oil. Check! Animal fats on meats are particularly valuable. Xnay the bacon, then! Fermented foods (sauerkraut, yogurt, and kefir) are also a very important part of this diet in addition to homemade meat or fish stock. It is recommended to take a cup of warm meat or fish stock with every meal as a drink as well as soups and stews made with the meat or fish stock. The stock, kefir and fermented vegetables will over time restore the stomach acid production, which will improve digestion.
It is best to avoid processed foods (any packet or tinned foods). Check! They are stripped from most nutrients that were present in the fresh ingredients used for making these foods. They are a hard work for the digestive system and they damage the healthy gut flora balance. On top of that they usually contain a lot of artificial chemicals, detrimental to health, like preservatives, colorants, etc. Try to buy foods in the form that nature made them, as fresh as possible. Check!
RECOMMENDED FOODS
Almonds, including almond butter and oil
Apples mild intolerance
Apricots, fresh or dried
Artichoke, French
Asiago cheese
Asparagus
Aubergine (eggplant) Moderate intolerance
Avocados, including avocado oil
Bananas (ripe only with brown spots on the skin) Moderate intolerance
Beans, dried white (navy), string beans and lima
beans
Beef, fresh or frozen Moderate intolerance to organs, mild to beef
Beets or beetroot
Berries, all kinds Moderate intolerance to blueberries, strawberries and cranberries
Black, white and red pepper: ground and pepper corns Mild intolerance
Black radish
Blue cheese
Bok Choy
Brazil nuts
Brick cheese
Brie cheese
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Butter
Cabbage
Camembert cheese
Canned fish in oil or water only
Capers
Carrots
Cashew nuts, fresh only
Cauliflower
Cayenne pepper
Celeriac
Celery Mild intolerance
Cellulose in supplements
Cheddar cheese
Cherimoya (custard apple or sharifa)
Cherries
Chestnuts
Chicken, fresh or frozen
Cinnamon
Citric acid
Coconut, fresh or dried (shredded) without any
additives
Coconut milk
Coconut oil
Coffee, weak and freshly made, not instant Mild intolerance
Collard greens
Colby cheese
Courgette
Coriander, fresh or dried
Cucumber
Dates, fresh or dried without any additives (not
soaked in syrup)
Dill, fresh or dried
Duck, fresh or frozen
Edam cheese
Eggplant (aubergine) Moderate intolerance
Eggs, fresh Moderate intolerance
Filberts
Fish, fresh or frozen, canned in its juice or oil
Game, fresh or frozen
Garlic
Ghee, home-made
Gin, occasionally
Ginger root, fresh
Goose, fresh or frozen
Gorgonzola cheese
Gouda cheese
Grapefruit
Grapes
Havarti cheese
Hazelnuts
Herbal teas intolerant to cardamom, mints
Herbs, fresh or dried without additives intolerant to basil, savory, bay leaves, curry, vanilla
Honey, natural
Juices freshly pressed from permitted fruit and vegetables
Kale
Kiwi fruit Moderate intolerance
Kumquats
Lamb, fresh or frozen
Lemons
Lentils
Lettuce, all kinds
Lima beans (dried and fresh)
Limburger cheese
Limes
Mangoes
Meats, fresh or frozen
Melons honeydew, cantaloupe
Monterey (Jack) cheese
Muenster cheese
Mushrooms
Mustard seeds, pure powder and gourmet types without any non-allowed ingredients
Nectarines
Nut flour or ground nuts (usually ground blanched almonds)
Nutmeg
Nuts, all kinds freshly shelled, not roasted, salted or coated
Olive oil, virgin cold-pressed
Olives preserved without sugar or any other non-allowed ingredients
Onions
Oranges
Papayas
Parmesan cheese
Parsley
Peaches
Peanut butter, without additives
Peanuts, fresh or roasted in their shells
Pears
Peas, dried split and fresh green
Pecans
Peppers (green, yellow, red, and orange)
Pheasant, fresh or frozen
Pickles, without sugar or any other non-allowed ingredients
Pigeon, fresh or frozen
Pineapples, fresh Mild intolerance
Pork, fresh or frozen
Port du Salut cheese
Poultry, fresh or frozen
Prunes, dried without any additives or in their own juice
Pumpkin Moderate intolerance
Quail, fresh or frozen
Raisins
Rhubarb
Roquefort cheese
Romano cheese
Satsumas
Scotch, occasionally
Shellfish, fresh or frozen I am intolerant to all fish and seafood except for lobster. Bizarre.
Spices, single and pure without any additives intolerances to cardamom, curry
Spinach
Squash (summer and winter)
Stilton cheese
String beans
Swiss cheese
Tangerines
Tea, weak freshly made, not instant Moderate intolerance
Tomatoes: puree or juice, pure without any additives apart from salt Mild intolerance
Turkey, fresh or frozen Mild intolerance
Turnips
Ugly fruit
Uncreamed cottage cheese (dry curd)
Vinegar (cider or white); make sure there is no allergy
Vodka, very occasionally Moderate intolerance
Walnuts
Watercress
Wine dry: red or white Moderate intolerance to white and red wines
Yogurt, home-made
Zucchini
FOODS TO AVOID
Acesulphame
Acidophilus milk
Agar-agar
Agave syrup
Algae - can aggravate an already disturbed immune
system
Aloe Vera - please go to "FAQs" for additional information
Amaranth - is a grain substitute, contains starches
Apple juice - usually has sugar added during
processing
Arrowroot - is a mucilaginous herb and loaded with
starch
Aspartame
Astragalus - contains polysaccharides
Baked beans
Baker's yeast - contains saccharamyces cerevisae
Baking powder and raising agents of all kind
Balsamic vinegar - most found in stores have added
sugar
Barley
Bean flour and sprouts
Bee pollen - irritating to a damaged gut
Beer
Bhindi or okra
Bicarbonate of soda
Bitter Gourd
Black eye beans
Bologna
Bouillon cubes or granules
Brandy
Buckwheat
Bulgur
Burdock root - contains FOS and mucilage
Butter beans
Buttermilk
Canellini beans
Canned vegetables and fruit
Carob
Carrageenan - is seaweed and high in
polysaccharides
Cellulose gum
Cereals, including all breakfast cereals
Cheeses, processed and cheese spreads
Chestnut flour
Chevre cheese
Chewing gum - contain sugars or sugar substitutes
Chick peas
Chickory root - contains high amounts of FOS
Chocolate Moderate intolerance
Cocoa powder - please see "FAQs" for more information
Coffee, instant and coffee substitutes
Cooking oils
Cordials
Corn
Cornstarch
Corn syrup
Cottage cheese
Cottonseed
Cous-cous
Cream - contains lactose
Cream of Tartar
Cream cheese
Dextrose - in commercial products it is not the pure
form
Drinks, soft
Faba beans
Feta cheese
Fish, preserved, smoked, salted, breaded and canned
with sauces
Flour, made out of grains
FOS (fructooligosaccharides)
Fructose - extracted from corn and has a mixture of
other trisaccharides
Fruit, canned or preserved
Garbanzo beans
Gjetost cheese
Grains, all
Gruyere cheese
Ham
Hot dogs
Ice-cream, commercial
Jams
Jellies
Jerusalem artichoke
Ketchup, commercially available
Lactose
Liqueurs
Margarines and butter replacements
Meats, processed, preserved, smoked and salted
Millet
Milk from any animal, soy, rice, canned coconut milk
Milk, dried
Molasses
Mozzarella cheese
Mungbeans
Neufchatel cheese
Nutra-sweet (aspartame)
Nuts, salted, roasted and coated
Oats
Okra - mucilaginous food
Parsnips
Pasta, of any kind
Pectin
Postum
Potato white
Potato sweet
Primost cheese
Quinoa - 60% starch
Rice
Ricotta cheese
Rye
Saccharin
Sago
Sausages, commercially available
Seaweed
Semolina
Sherry
Soda soft drinks
Sour cream commercial
Soy
Spelt
Starch
Sugar or sucrose of any kind
Tapioca - starch
Tea, instant
Triticale
Turkey loaf
Vegetables, canned or preserved
Wheat
Wheat germ
Whey, powder or liquid
Yams
Yogurt, commercial
While this diet is very close to the SCD, there are a few changes. One important difference is that the GAPS diet removes casein in addition to lactose in the beginning stages of the diet.