i fell off of the gluten free, soy and dairy free wagon!!! 3 months.cudt tke it nymor

[jenny2008]

well aftr 3 months i broke down and ate 2 strawberry poptarts adn 2 small pieces of chocolate.. ive never had issues with ibs or stomach=-iwas just trying this all veggie, fruit adn organic meat/fish diet to help w. my sjogrens/and dry eyes..

after 3 months and no changes.except my left eye got better but the right one gota lot worse(to me that is typical sjogrens behavior-it jumps around)i got sick of it.. i will still try to super good and as gluten free as possible but i think it wasmaking me more despresed...

ive been in a flare upfor 10 days.. finaly felt better today so ihad to give into my cravings... we shall see..

i have yet to really meet someone who said this diet totally helped ther eyes.. my eyes hve hurt and been so bone dry while i was on my strictest diet for 3months!

any comments?? i would love them!
thanks for listening!!!

[Tanner]

I have IC and did a super strict diet for 3 weeks and saw no change in my eyes a little in my IC. It was dairy, gluten, wheat, and everything you can imagine free except vegetables, and fish. Three weeks isn't very long. 3 months is pretty good.

[jenny2008]

tanner-thanks... i had tried before for about a month... too me 3 mos is a long time too. i will see how i feel in the next few days-i will be eating back on my diet..and see if i get any flare up out of the ordinary..if not i guess its safe to assume the diet didnt help much.o well!

[lulu]

To be honest I have recently gone down this route, again! The first exclusion diet I tried was for a very long time and all that happened was I became super thin, but that was a long time ago. This time I went to see a nutritionalist and to be honest I do not have any medically qualified allergies but agreed to go gluten, sugar, cheese and fruit free. Nothing has changed at all. It has been a few months. I have started to look at the diets that are being prescribed by the practitioners and very few appear to be tailored to the person. It is a bit of a wide stab in the dark approach and unfortunately the latest thing is gluten whereas for me before, everybody got excited by candida back in the 90's. What concerns me a little is the "functional medicine" approach that is adopted, i.e. that excluding foods can cure all illness rather than one's which are more food related like very definate allergies. Dont misquote me as I do think that what we put in our bodies should be looked at in a balanced sensible way and that too much of refined or processed foods possibly can lead to serious health problems. My mum in law has always had an appauling diet high in processed food with little in the way of fresh daily intake, in fact I did not realise just how bad her diet really was until recently, and sadly she has just been diagnosed with extensive pancreatic, gall bladder and liver mets. So it is important. However, paying huge sums of money to become totally obsessed with one's food is not a good idea either. It is very fashionable to do this again, sorry if any convertee's are really offended. I gave it a really good shot and just felt depressed too and in fact I think I have noticed that my skin is suffering as a result. What also concerns me is the expensive supplements that I am told I should take, I looked into the cost and would have been paying nearly 50 pound alone for the IGG and Bile extract, that was on top of course of the fee's. Supplements are big buisiness, pretty much like big pharma really and so far nothing has made a jot of a difference in all the years I have tried good quality supplements. (exception is 5HTP)
Should we just not eat sensibly? Not obsessing with every little label, avoiding dining out or going to a family meal, crikey we are miserable enough. The other interesting point of course and this is something to consider. When one cuts out a food group, your pancreas stops producing the amalyse that digests that food group, so you may introduce that foodgroup at a later date and hey presto, you develop a reaction......because you are now desensitised due to lower production of pancreatic amalyse. So when you complain to the practitioner that you now have stomach ache and digestion problems you did not previously have, they see this as proof that you are allergic to that food. The other thing I hear Nutritionalists diagnosing on a regular basis is adrenal insuffiency, often with dubious tests on saliva or hair, I have been through all of this and was even told I was very radioactive by one practitioner once!!!!! That explains a lot.
Gosh, I did not know I felt so strongly about this subject, so I guess you have to take this as my opinion only, but based on experience. We are at the mercy of the next thing that comes along really and when I look back at 20 years of illness, I would be a far richer person than I am now if I had just not gone along with this. One does not know of course until you try and if it makes a difference than that money is well spent, but it has not in the long run for me.
One thing I did start doing was to avoid certain shampoo's as I read someone on here had noticed an improvement in her eye symptoms in avoiding formelderhyde, that to me seems entirely logical and I continue to do this, just in case. as I had used a eye spray with formelderhyde release and it killed my corneas.
Today I had a nice chocolate biscuit...... and I loved every minute of it.
Lulu x

[lulu]

posted this twice by mistake!

[PotatoCakes]

My understanding, from what an allergist and a naturopath (separately) told me, is that it takes about 3 months time to un-do any damage, inflammation, etc that foods like gluten, etc cause IF you are sensitive to them. If you are NOT, then it won't make a difference. I'm currently in my first month of a gluten-free diet. It hasn't been too bad but I'm approaching it in a healthier fashion than I did the first time I tried to do it. If, after 3 months, I don't experience a change, I'm eating cake.

Previously, I eliminated 2 other food products for just over 3 months and it had no effect on me.

Since you went 3 months and didn't notice any changes, I'd feel good about the go you had and feel pretty confident that gluten, soy and dairy are not the cause of your problems. To me, while knowing it doesn't help doesn't change my disease, at least I can stop thinking 'what if' and move on from the possibility so even when something doesn't work, it's worth a try.

[Guest]

To me, while knowing it doesn't help doesn't change my disease, at least I can stop thinking 'what if' and move on from the possibility so even when something doesn't work, it's worth a try.

Well said!

[jenny2008]

my left eye was killing me all last night and today BUT i have been having sjogrens flare ups the past 11 days or so --way before i fell off of my diet.. i think that is why i said to heck with it! i dont know... im still going to try and eat healthy but im tired of not being able to eat a piece of cake with family for a celebration or go out to eat. its getting hard to enjoy life because of it and it isnt like my eyes felt much if any different.. i remember eating junk all the time when i worked-tons of candy and i would have good weeks and bad weeks.... i am not celiac. i have sjogrens... i appreciate everybodys replies...
i have yet to meet 1 person who said diet helped their dry eyes sooo mcuh..

[Guest]

i have yet to meet 1 person who said diet helped their dry eyes sooo mcuh..

Well, in my case, cutting out sweets, eating low carb, and not eating any of the rosacea trigger foods in Brady Barrow's Rosacea 101 diet definitely decreased the redness in my eyes, and improved my MG's. Don't know if it's the anti-inflammatory nature of such a diet, the avoidance of rosacea triggers, food intolerances or what... but there is no doubt in my mind it helps my eyes (plus, to my surprise, my heartburn goes away, I stop sneezing all the time, my nose is no longer stuffy all the time so I can quit using Nasonex, and my rosacea goes into remission).

That being said, I've never given up dairy for long, or had the willpower to be quite as strict on the diet as you... ie. if there was a special occasion, or I was out for dinner, I'd eat whatever I wanted that night so I wouldn't feel too hard done by.

[jenny2008]

my diet for 3 months didnt seem to help my glands... but i am still going to try and eat healthy and not go crazy... i am not good at super low carb. i mean i eat a lot of sweet potatoes and fruits and veggies... did you decrease foods like that as well? what does brady barrows say about sweet potatoes and raw honey?? i am assuming those are bad huh?

[Guest]

Brady Barrow's diet is super low carb for the first month - pretty much the only carbs you get are what is present naturally in low-carb vegies (ex. corn is high carb, leafy greens are low carb etc) - ie. you don't eat sugar, no honey, no bread, no grains, no fruit, also no store-bought sauces (too many ingredients so you won't know what made you react).... after that, if it helps, he suggests that you can gradually increase your carb intake and add a new food every few days (ex. introduce fruits, or maybe introduce a small amount of grain) until you reach the threshold that causes your rosacea symptoms to worsen again. The longest I managed to stick with the super low carb part is maybe 2 or 3 weeks... (you can search for my threads on it... they will be more accurate). For the first 2-3 weeks, an example of a daily meal plan would be:

eggs and sugar-free sausage or bacon with some cheese for breakfast
leafy green salad with cucumber, grilled chicken breast and a home-made oil and vinegar dressing
supper would be half a dinner plate of low-carb vegies and a huge portion of lean meat (had to have tons of meat or I'd be super hungry on this diet)
snacks: nuts

The first few days I felt a bit nauseated in the mornings... but then my body adjusted and I felt great after that. I think I might have started this diet when there were no parties coming up for a while so I wouldn't have to miss out on cake haha... not sure though.. would have to read though my old threads to know for sure.

After I knew the extreme version of the diet was a benefit to me, I did as Brady advised and gradually added stuff. I would indulge in a cake at a birthday party for example, or maybe have a 1/2 cup of brown rice with my supper... started eating some fruit etc.

I had watched a lecture from Berkley??? I think... it's been a while... not sure ... anyhow, the prof was showing how when we eat high-glycemic index foods, our insulin spikes and that leads to the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in our body.. he went through the biochemical pathways etc... was very interesting... maybe we all have different thresholds for how many carbs we can eat before those pro-inflammatory mediators cause issues for us. Who knows...

[lulu]

Its reassuring to know that the diets do appear to help some people and that they feel that this is what has helped keep things under control, I know some friends who are convinced that this approach has been instrumental in maintaining a degree of comfort and I am very excited for the progress they have made.
Possible that it is down to the many different causes underlying chronic problems which might help explain the success with some and not others? Who knows.......
At least it is one to cross of the list Jenny.
Lulu x

[Guest]

Possible that it is down to the many different causes underlying chronic problems which might help explain the success with some and not others? Who knows.......
At least it is one to cross of the list Jenny.
Lulu x

I agree... we're all different. Maybe in another 100 years, science will be able to explain why some people find relief with these diets, and others notice no difference. For now, we just don't know enough to explain it. We're left making stabs in the dark, hoping we luck out. Quiet honestly, before this actually helped me, I thought the notion of an anti-inflammatory diet was a bit out there... I only tried it because it wouldn't cost me anything, wouldn't hurt me for the 1 month trial (not that I even lasted that long haha) and I'd hit a wall with everything else.

I wouldn't obsess about diet and stuff though... you gave it a go, so what else can you do, right? We have to be careful not to depress ourselves trying too many unproven "treatments," especially since the unproven ones are even less likely to work than the proven, mainstream ones... maybe give yourself a break on diet for a good long while... enjoy eating the foods you love... then, if you're in the mood to try another "diet" in a few months, why not. If you're not in the mood, and will feel bummed out about giving up your fave foods, then maybe you ought to just carry on as you are for a while longer before trying another diet.

[jenny2008]

im just confused.. i thought if i went to a naturopath and had her plan the diet for me it would be easier--like i said in another posts-the diet she has me on says to eat sweet potatoes but not bananas... no oats, grains, no eggs, etc... nothing packaged or canned.. it is super strict although you can eat apples, grapes and again sweet potatoes..
doc
then i have read about diets high in nuts having a ton of omega 6 in them ( i know pretty much every food even veggies has some omega 6 )..it is just frustrating .. are the natural carbs worse or the high omegg 6? i have sjogrens too so not sure what to do.. my docs pretty much said if it didnt help after a few months it was up to me as to whether keep going. the naturopath says it could take 5-6 months but now i fell off the wagon!!! also i cant eat peanut or almond butter anymore...

its so confusing to try a diet to help...

[lulu]

it is confusing and the more you research, the more confusing it gets! Different naturopaths have different approaches to the same elimination diet, so for example, my anti inflamation diet says I can eat peanut butter according to the naturopath I saw, I was not allowed to eat grapes whereas you can. I have a similiar auto immune profile to yours, so Jenny it is just trial and error really lovey.
I think in the west we do eat too much omega 6 as apposed to 3, so maybe thats a good guideline to live by???
Lulu x