How to find a link between diet and symptoms

[KittyCat]

Hi everyone! I've tried to find answers by searching previous posts, but I can't find much.
I've been writing down everything I eat and drink for the last month or so, and I'm now trying to see if there's any correlation between my diet and my symptoms.
For those who have found that certain things cause more inflammation/flare ups, could you please let me know how you figured this out? Was it days/weeks/months/hours after consuming something that it caused a reaction? Because my diet is currently just a standard Western diet, I'm struggling to work out a pattern because I eat dairy, sugar, grains, red meat (all the things that other people have said cause a reaction for them).
Any advice on working out what to avoid/eliminate would be great!

[orange86]

white sugar causes severe inflammation in my eyes. i notice it a day or two after eating chocolate, ice cream etc.
you should check out an anti inflammatory diet.

[shar_63]

I definitely notice increased inflammation with white sugar, and sometimes wheat. I found dietary recommendations online via another web site dedicated to fry eye. If you dig around their web site, there is an actual diet with recipes and suggestions. Good luck!

https://eyelovethesun.com/blogs/dry-eye/a-healthy-anti-inflammatory-diet

https://eyelovethesun.com/blogs/dry-eyes/mgd-diet

[shar_63]

They have also started a free version of their Dry Eye Bootcamp, which I have joined and I am glad to share whatever I learn here.

[Hokucat]

Great that you have been writing down everything you eat and drink. It’s a bit of a cumbersome process, but that’s how I determined which things I consumed made my eyes drier or feel better. Refined sugars, dairy, and gluten definitely make my eyes feel worse, usually within 1-2 days. Foods that make my eyes feel better like a juicy salmon or small but good cut of steak or filet mignon (which I try to limit red meat, but somehow think the marbled fat helps), avocados, green juicing, and lots of water all make my eyes feel better also usually in 1-2 days. Green tea with fresh lemon juice took a little less than a week for me to notice my eyes felt better, and for me personally this was the most significant.

Of the many doctors I saw for my eyes, a naturopath/MD advised me to test diet changes (adding something new, or discontinuing something) one at a time, and for 1-2 weeks, in order to see the impact.