Please talk to me about food intolerances - gluten and dairy?

[nomadwantshome]

I've long suspected I'm reacting to the food in my diet. This weekend just gone I had a tummy bug so no food. As I've been recovering I've been off tea (with milk) but have been drinking green tea. I also have not had any bread or gluten products (I do a lot of cooking from scratch). I can't believe how calm my tummy feels. I have no bloating or cramps or trots (tmi). I'm now getting a bit excited to think that I could be feeling lots better.

Dh made a cup of tea (with milk) for me this morning, which I drank and it went straight through me - this is not uncommon. The same thing sometimes happens if I have toast or muesli.

Having said all that, I've been eating whole live yogurt with no ill effects, but this is milk derived so I'm a bit confused. If it was caffeine I was reacting to then I would react to the green tea?

I am definitely going to remain gluten free for the next couple of weeks and then try eating some bread to see how I get on. Least I can rule that out or in.

Anyone with words of wisdom?

[nightcat]

Gluten causes various other intolerances and suppresses digestive enzymes, inc those that break down dairy proteins.
On GF, after a while it's poss to recover ability to digest dairy.
Yoghourt etc is partly broken down in terms of protein (or fermented in some way, esp if it has good bacteria), so less work for your digestive enzymes and little reaction.
Read up on gluten inolerance (or celiac.com)

[nomadwantshome]

Thanks night cat. There are a few things I didn't know. Ive been reading up.

[nightcat]

been reading up for years myself and still finding out useful stuff, it's a bit of a hobby now :D

[MistyB]

A word of warning, if you suspect you may have problems with gluten, you need to be consuming gluten for at least 6 weeks prior to biopsy to confirm celiac diagnosis. If you exclude gluten, feel much better then reintroduce, you may become quite unwell.

If it is gluten intolerence, you may well be able to heal your gut through exclusion and rebalancing your gut enzymes possibly sing supplements.

See your GP! Then if not celiac, think about food intolerence testing and seeing a nutritionist.

[nomadwantshome]

Thanks misty - I have been tested for coelics, and it was a neg. So I discounted gluten for ages. Recently read that I could be intolerant rather than allergic. I think this might be the case - work in progress.

What are sing supplements?

[MistyB]

Some, not sing, sorry, typo!! Probiotics, long chain fatty acids, vitamin a (raw carrot juice) and vitamin d are all good to heal and rebalance the gut. Depending on your individual circumstances, digestive enzymes may also be helpful.

Good news about negative for coeliac disease.

You could try non invasive testing to see what foods are causing a problem and testing to see if they are still causing a problem as it in my experience, the exclusion / reintroduction cycle is difficult and it can be difficult to be sure that is food and not other factors and it can be complicate if there is more than one food involved. Also, recovery from a trigger food can take time and impact your health.

[sooperdooper]

I'm dairy intolerent, but now I know I am, I can have little bits, if I keep an eye on what I eat and don't over do it

I've never been tested, I figured it out from keeping a food/reaction diary which was suggested by my doctor and realising that I was basically over-dosing myself on dairy in loads of different forms.

I always find that I react worse to milk and yoghurt than anything else, so always have soya milk now, but if I do that, and have soya spread instead of butter, then I can have cheese occasionally but usually stick to diary free yoghurt

I've found really it's a bit trial & error at first, but I've figured out my 'levels' now, so it's worth persevering because you may find you don't have to exclude everything you react to 100% :)

[nomadwantshome]

I'm usually quite good at spttong typos that one was in disguise lol!

Bit disappointed today as yesterday I inadvertantly had gluten and I did not react one bit. So had normal toast this morning and still no reaction. Surely I would have reacted by now. Strange that I'm dissapointed that I did not react , I guess it would have been an easy win. As you say, and as ive read, sometimes its not easy at all. I've also been having milk in my tea and have been ok. Could be as you say - sooper doper - I'm okk with small amounts? I do have a tendency of going over board with cheese. Oh well back to square one.

I did have bad tummy troubles after I had a risotto on friday. It was home made with onions, chorizo and miso soup base with a big serving of butter beans. So I'm thinking soya from the soup base or an ingredient in the chorizo. Only suspect ingredients: dextrose, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate (preservatives). Or could just have been a normal reaction to the beans but definate cramps. Would you get this with beans?

Sooper doper - did you notice a reaction straight away or a little bit later? What were your symptoms? Are headaches a symptom of intorleance? Sorry I've read so much on all of it, my head is full! I'm getting a bit too over analytical now too, I think.

[nomadwantshome]

Misty sorry forgot to ask, what's non invasive testing?

I'm taking probiotics and eating live yogurt which I think helps.

What are digestive enzymes as a supplement? You mention vit d also. If you are deficient in this, would this manifest itself in said tummy troubles? I only mention it as have been suffering from fatigue for a long while and vit d keeps popping up.

[MistyB]

Non invasive testing would either be a blood test (York test for example) or BioDynamic testing, I have used Asyra and Kinesiology before. The kinesiology muscle reaction testing, is something you can do at home with someone to help you and useful to see if food are ok or if your tolerance level has changed.

I may have to duck after posting this as alternative solutions normally get a real pasting on here but in my experience, identifying food intolerences is spectacularly difficult. Having something that tells you what is doing your body good and what is not is really worth having.

Digestive enzymes. If your digestive tract is unbalanced either through food intolerences or after antibiotics or infection, you may not be absorbing nutrients required for your body and immune system to function. This can be rebalanced by digestive enzymes, found in raw food particulary pineapple and papaya. Raw food is also great for balancing hormones, adrenal stress and fatigue. I feel much better if I can manage a few multi coloured fruit and vegi smoothies a week. You can get all of this in a suppliment too which is less work! My nutritionist swears by Vital Greens.

Vitamin D is linked to absorption of minerals particularly calcium and with triggering the immune system. The immune system is heavily reliant on the gut to function so while I don't think vitamin D deficiency would give you the stomach cramps, boosting your immune system with vitamin D might compensate for a poorly functioning gut. (Massive caveat!! I am not a nutritionist but three of my family have immune issues and I know more than I ever dreamed I needed to know about the links between food and immunity but I do not have a weight if double blind scientific trials behind me!)

Interesting that you are OK with gluten and dairy today!! Perhaps the probiotics have done it? Sometimes it is a simple answer! My DS had a terrible gut bacteria imbalance and he grew before my eyes when we addressed it!!!

Will you protect me if the anti alternative therapy crew come looking for a fight??

[nomadwantshome]

Yes I will protect you! I've tried kinseology before, it's amazing and I would never have believed it if I hadn't had it performed on me. I'd forgotten all about that! My dh is NOT into all that so I'm wondering who else coulee help me. I do think there is something in alternative stuff. I have tried a couple of herbal tinctures before with brilliant results. But they don't work again once I've used them iyswim. I'm always happy to try anything once and I know different things work for different people.

[MistyB]

Anyone at all can help you!! My DS aged 6 at the time, helped me do a kinesiology muscle reaction test on creams for my 6 month old while standing in Waitrose baby aisle! A skeptical friend? Ideally of course it should be a trained unconnected person but I don't think it is essential! It might not be 100 % reliable but it might point you in the right direction and stop you interpreting false negatives / positives from the exclude / reintroduce tests.