Gluten free/dairy free/low FODMAP?

[OhioRyan]

I am currently still waiting for an official diagnosis, but due to inflammation of my colon on CT it's just a matter of defining the inflammation. I spoke with a physician I work for who suffers from UC, and she advised avoiding dairy and gluten at least for the time being. I have read that non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a subjective diagnosis, and often placebo effect. During research I found that there is currently speculation that gluten free diets inadvertently also reduce FODMAP foods, so it is likely a FODMAP sensitivity, not just gluten.

I am wondering what some of you think about this?

 

[Beach]

Good luck with the gluten free, and dairy free diet trial. It's a good place to start when looking to try diet ideas to help the colon. I agree with your physician boss, give the diet a try for a month and see if it improves your situation.

It is true that avoiding those two foods will also inadvertantly lead to avoiding other foods, which might be problematic. A food journal might be beneficial in helping identify those potential other irritating foods.

With placebo effects, that might be the case also with the diet. Placebo effects can be difficult to pin down. I was reading recently a former New England Journal of Medicine editors book about how many popular prescribed medications are little better than placeboes she believed. My opinion is who cares if the diet or medication helps. That's what matters most.

My personal experience with avoiding dairy and wheat was that it helped my IBD but was not a cure. The colon improved. I was ill less frequently. On the down side I never recovered my energy levels. I remained tired and fatigued on the wheat free, dairy free diet.

Of late I've taken to viewing feed fed to live stock as a potential problem. For example, if grains, soy, or synthetic vitamins are fed to an animal I'm assuming those items will show up in the meat, eggs, or dairy products. I'm sticking with eating wild caught fish or grass fed Kerry Gold cheese. The idea has helped nicely with improving energy levels, fatigue, and a mental fog that can be troublesome. It has me upbeat. I can get used to having energy. I'm hoping the lack of fatigue sticks around for a long time, and isn't a placebo effect.

 

[Eridon2002]

Your diet is one of the few things within your control. For me, avoiding trigger foods helps my symptoms immensely. Dairy or gluten is not a problem for me but a few of the FODMAPs foods are(or at least I have to eat at minimal quantities). What helps me is staying away from processed foods. There are some additives/preservatives/emulsifying agents that will cause me pain. What affects people is very different from person to person. To truly see the affect diet has on you; you'll need to do an elimination diet. When you add a food one at a time(giving several days between new additions) you can see which ones affect you. Then take it away again, see if symptoms clear up. Add it back and if symptoms return then you know that is an offending food for your system. You have to take into account all aspects of the food you are testing(individual ingredients, corn fed beef or grass-fed, etc) and try to ferret it all out. It is not easy but as I said, there is very little that is within your control for disease. What you put in your mouth is all up to you.

 

[Beach]

Nicely said Eridon2002.

Wanted to quickly mention potential problems with grass fed beef and dairy products. There isn't a set standard or regulation for what grass fed means. I've seen a few articles on this problem recently. I ran across another one today, which I'll post below.

For me personally I'm working on the theory that some of the grass fed items I bought and ate in the past were not entirely how we typically think of grass fed. The beef or dairy could have been commercial feed lot in some circumstances. It is why I'm eating wild caught fish for now, and if the theory is correct why I'm healthier of late. At least I'm hoping so for my sake.

"What grass fed labels on beef mean"

http://www.businessinsider.com/grass-fed-claims-beef-bogus-usda-packaging-2016-2

 

[Eridon2002]

Beach-It is sad how deceptive the labeling laws are in the US. Just look at the labeling of chicken eggs-cage free, free-range, pasture-raised. Cage free just means they have a little door they can leave the coop; however, they never do and are still crammed in tight spaces walking all over their feces. Another bone of contention for me is how MSG can be hidden under many terms(autolyzed yeast extract, natural spices, etc). You're right, grass-fed cows can be fed corn "as a finish" but still labeled grass-fed. I think it has to say grass finished to be 100%. I'm thinking of just finding a farm close to where I live that I know how the animals are raised. In the summer I go to the farmers market. I recently have tried Elk which is free from antibiotics and 100% grass-fed, plus it's lean and delicious. Glad the wild caught fish is helping you. I need to get some wild salmon. So much better tasting than the farmed ones.

 

[OhioRyan]

Beach- I'm thinking of just finding a farm close to where I live that I know how the animals are raised. In the summer I go to the farmers market. I recently have tried Elk which is free from antibiotics and 100% grass-fed, plus it's lean and delicious. Glad the wild caught fish is helping you. I need to get some wild salmon. So much better tasting than the farmed ones.

Where I live we have a "farm share" program that works similar to a CSA, in that you pay a lump sum ahead of season and get food weekly, but they sourse from several farms within 100 miles and offer a winter share. So all year you can get local, honest meat.

 

[Beach]

Eridon2002,

It is a travesty that our food labeling isn't more straight forward and honest. Thanks, and glad the wild fish and limited diet I'm following is working for me with the stomach better and energy greatly improved. I see you are from St. Louis. Next week I have some energetic family spring breakers coming from there to visit me in Florida. The timing of feeling better is excellent as I'll need every bit of energy to keep up with them.

OhioRyan -

Thought to bring up if you have not seen it the Low Dose Naltrexone section. LDN is a generic drug with few side effects that helps many with IBD conditions. Being in a doctors office it might be easier for you to obtain a prescription for it. The LDN section can be read at:

http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=32

Another IBD colitis form I visit has this thread on LDN

"An update on my LDN therapy: A Miracle? An unequivocal YES!"

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20020

 

[Charlotte.]

Hi OhioRyan,

for me, low Fodmap is helpful, also excluding personal trigger foods. I do a full elimination diet and re-test the foods that I found to trigger reactions for both my Crohn's and enteropathic arthritis (which always flares up both, so I can double check and don't need to rely on just my tummy). Gluten and dairy are one of the foods that trigger reactions for me, so maybe you benefit from eliminating them.
Bear in mind that if you react to another food as well, you might not see any improvement at all, as you expose your body to other foods that lead to the exact same reaction and you don't see any difference.

 

[hugh]

As has been pointed out, there are lots of processes and interactions going on in the gut.
It is not unlikely that things that would normally be tolerated buy a healthy gut (or a healthy gut microbiome) might not be tolerated by an unhealthy gut (or disbiosis[1]).

There is a lot of debate about "proving" or "disproving" non-celiac gluten intolerance is 'just' fodmaps. I don't think it matters what it is. Eliminating wheat (gluten and FOODMAP fodmap) is a pretty basic start.
Whether wheat is something that is making you sick, or something that you could tolerate if you weren't sick doesn't matter.

Unfortunately, 'giving things up and seeing if you feel better' one at a time is not adequate to know for sure.
You might be lucky, you might hit the big problem straight away, like an undiagnosed celiac saying "hey, i think i'll try gluten free".
But if you are ill you might not able to digest, might not be able to heal, so might not feel much better. Your microbiome could be so heavily disrupted and your intestine so heavily ulcerated, that it just isn't enough.

If i was feeling pretty healthy i might play about to see if giving some things up was all i had to do, maybe add in a few missing ingredients (vitamins, fibre, good fats, probiotics).

If i was feeling that i had to hurry, or would rather be thorough and get it over with only once then i would research ALL the foods that MIGHT be a problem (certain proteins, fodmaps,chemicals,processed foods, anything that contains 'natural flavours',sugar,etc,etc)

For a short while one would eat only from a limited selection of foods and eliminate everything else.
Then, at appropriate intervals, reintroduce one food at a time to see if it is tolerated.
What food you reintroduced depending on your appetite, and but mainly keeping in mind how risky that food could be.

I thing anyone with digestive issues should think about what food really is and why.

Well cooked, easily digestible meat and vegetables are reintroduced first to create a bit of variety and maximise nutrition, starting with broths, moving to soups, and then solids.

The foods that might be a problem, things like nuts, eggs, tomatoes, or dairy are last, and some like gluten or sugar are never used again by many.

I would recommend looking at ....
(only a suggestion)

The Paleo A/I (Auto-immune) Protocol, - google "the paleo mum"
(not that i think crohns is an autoimmne disease - only that it is a well thought out (from a paleo perspective) attempt to eat well and correct disbiosis in order to heal.)
I would look at others diets like fodmaps, and SCD and work out what you want to do to see if you feel better

[1] Disbiosis - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysbiosis
Clinical consequences of diet-induced dysbiosis
"We introduce the complex tripartite relationship between diet, microbes and the gut epithelium. This is followed by a summary of clinical evidence of diet-induced dysbiosis as a contributing factor in the development of gastrointestinal diseases like inflammatory bowel disease"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24217034
would love to see the whole article......