I know I've tried tons of different diets and exclusions and things. I've got a pretty good list in my head of what i can and can't eat but it seems to change q bit every couple years. I used to not tolerate bread but eat sugar and it seems to have switched some time in the last decade. Anyways, i wish you luck with your journey and I'm glad you've found something that works for you
Their theory was that the herbicides would kill off their gut's natural biome and cause an inability process carbohydrates, fiber and maintain a intestinal mucus layer.
YMMV...but just passing along what has worked for a few of my friends.
The FDA finally banned brominated vegetable oil very recently so maybe they’ll get to the rest of it too. Assuming they can make rules anymore, anyway.
You mean they avoided vegetables entirely?
I wouldn’t want to do it though!
If they become healthier then they should be able to increase vegetable intake which will further increase their health.
The most noteable thing about the whole experience was how amazing my bowel functions are after having to restore the gut biome. They are functioning far better than the many years before I experienced the die off. I used pills from Amazon that had good reviews (Physicians Choice) with a strict raw vegetable diet, and they definitely worked. I noticed another uptick in bowel function after taking some pills my wife purchased that had more strains. You can't just eat yogurt and dust off your hands.
Specifically I have sleeps apnea, my cortisol was 1.5 times the max upper range, my thyroid wasn't getting signals from my brain, I had adrenal fatigue, my B12 levels were low (the liver stores 3 years worth of B12, that's why vegetarians often crash the third year), my D3 was low, my BMI was way too high so aromatase was turning my T to estrogen, basically my levels were all off. My nurse gave me some prescriptions and a supplement cocktail and I found relief within just a few days. My joint pain went away, my patchy hair filled in after a couple of months, no more brain fog, etc. If IBS is a spectrum, then my experience has been that it is curable even if it's been going on for 5 years or more, although Crohn's disease probably has immune system markers that require specific treatments.
Now my digestive issues are in remission and I can eat everything I did before (edit: including gluten), although spicy food maybe overstimulates my peristalsis. So that's just the onset of oldtimers disease I guess.
For some level of immediate relief, try eating mainly big looseleaf salads for a few days, drink kefir, and drink a scoop of organic turmeric powder to calm the inflammation, all daily. I also found 2-4 psyllium husk capsules and a large glass of water daily to be highly beneficial, but watch for flares since there are different types of IBS. And stop all multitasking (edit: choose the path of least anxiety), add slack to your schedule, make 20 minutes per day to meditate, and stop believing that you are stuck and this will last forever. I believe that night terrors and bodily symptoms are our subconscious trying to get our attention so that we do the healing work to address the pain of our isolation and suffering.
I'm sorry to hear about your Lupus diagnosis, and glad it's in remission. My doctor wanted to diagnose me with Lupus due to the facial rash and arthritis/joint pain, but I came back negative in all the bloodwork, which I think means about 98% sure don't have it. I found that I can treat the joint pain effectively with SSRIs (Fluoxetine, 20 mg is enough to wipe it out after a few weeks). My mother has MCAS and my sister and aunt have UC, so I feel like I'm tripping through a minefield trying to navigate whatever autoimmune issue this is....and I have a PhD in biochemistry.
When I had pain, I tried both medications and dietary changes, using an engineering mindset to isolate variables. Although I listened to my doctor, I also took matters into my own hands and did my research. My doctor initially doubted that changing my diet would help but did recommend the Mediterranean diet. He still doesn’t believe that food helped since there’s no clinical research backing it, and it’s not something commonly taught in medical schools.
The best part about experimenting with food is that it's easy and inexpensive to test on oneself. In my case, I was fortunate that my joint pains allowed me to observe the effects of my dietary changes within a week or less. Initially, I expected results in a day or two, but I soon realized that I needed to experiment for at least a few weeks to see the full effects. These days, I consume small quantities of eggs every few weeks and haven't noticed any significant increase in inflammation.
One of my friends has APLS (antiphospholipid antibody syndrome), which can also occur as a secondary symptom of Lupus. All of her blood tests always come back negative due to the way APLS affects coagulation -- unless the bloodwork is cultured for at least two days. So if you have reason to suspect the test results may be incorrect, ask them to re-do the bloodwork as a long-term culture rather than the normal fast screening.
What was your experience with fish?
Green leafy vegetables also has a lot protein (Kale, Broccoli and Brussels).
I use supplements for B12 which is missing from vegetable foods.
I used to eat fish but when I stopped all animal products I gave up fish as well. I guess if I have fish once in a while it won't hurt me but I have a tendency to overdo it. The main thing for me was to reduce the inflammation when I had the imbalance. This meant stopping everything I thought might cause inflammation until it went away.
My diet was also free of all salts, sugars and oils for few months though I do use them now.
Just in case you're looking for an inexpensive vegan whole food source, seaweed sheets (like those used in sushi) have a relatively high amount of B12. I took a look at the brand in my pantry and it has 60% RDA per sheet.
> A 2014 study reported that dried purple laver ("nori") contains vitamin B12 in sufficient quantities to meet the RDA requirement (Vitamin B12 content: 77.6 μg /100 g dry weight).[19] By contrast, however, a 2017 review concluded that vitamin B12 may be destroyed during metabolism or is converted into inactive B12 analogs during drying and storage.[20] The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics stated in 2016 that nori is not an adequate source of vitamin B12 for humans.[21]
Either way congrats on finding a way towards living a happy and healthy life, props to you.
As for the fish, you could try making yourself miso soup. Properly made, it contains bonito flakes, and it's impossible to overdo bonito flakes.
Type 1 diabetes, aka childhood diabetes, is thought to be from casein in A1 milk; where the immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas. Seems plausible to me; rates of dairy consumption seem to correlate with type 1. (see Finland).
I’m not suggesting that’s what’s happening in all of these comments, but I’ve seen a lot already that absolutely is. It’s really disappointing to see, but I’ve learned HN comments are great…until the topic of discussion departs from the usual tech-specific ideas, then it’s Dunning, Kruger, et al.
They also used really unhelpful citations, like “see: Finland”.
Feel free to continue this discussion here and within nutrition enthusiast groups, but please consider the perspectives of someone who’s struggling with a fresh, serious diagnosis before telling them all the hidden secrets of raw diets. Part of getting diagnosed is, at least for me, doing a shit ton of research to know better what my body is doing to me. Part of that research is sifting through all the scams and B.S. NaturalNews[TM] crap that, relevant or not, reads just like this thread. So when people tried to respond to the news of my illness with recipes it felt really patronizing and minimized my experience for the purposes of highlighting their hobby.
Just for an outside perspective. If any of this is backed with reliable data, I’m happy to read it.
To note, you need to eat high fat meat in order to properly digest the meat.
It's possible to also be allergic to certain types of meat, e.g. there's a protein in duck that bothers me.
Another factor to seriously consider is if consuming high quality organic meat vs. whatever else.
Also, meat requires a lot of energy to break down due to its [nutrient-calorie] density - of course you get back much more energy than it consumes, but it is an intensive process, so if there are other foods you're eating that are causing irritation then digesting meat could be problematic - and so then while of course reducing or stopping eating meat will then stop symptoms, it's possible that if removing the other foods that may be causing problems would then allow the meat consumption without causing any problems.
There's really been no properly done research on diet.
Traditional Indian medicine and grandma's wisdom have a long list of foods to eat or not depending on disease/pregnancy/breast feeding etc. But there isn't enough scientific research on it.
Unfortunately the Internet has made it worse now everybody is peddling something or other.
I did a lot of research and tried various treatments. Functional medicines and expensive vitamins didn’t help. I read about long-term fasting and tried different routines at home. I did several 1-day, 3-day, and 7-day fasts. During the 7-day fasts, my pain disappeared, but it returned once I resumed eating. This led me to believe that food was causing inflammation.
Previously, I ate a lot of lean meat and occasional red meat. I then cut down to eating meat once a week and ate mostly raw leafy vegetables the rest of the time. My pain would come back after eating meat and decrease over the week. I eventually stopped eating meat entirely and consumed a ton on greens, and within six weeks, I was pain-free.
I also tried Benlysta for months, but it didn’t help much. Vegetables seemed to reduce my inflammation more effectively. I stopped taking Benlysta but continued regular blood tests. After a year, my doctor agreed I could stop the medication. I’ve been in remission for the last two years with no pain or inflammation.
I hope this helps, though it’s just my personal experience.