This food re-introduction is going to be a long process. It’s basically one food every 3 days, but not gonna lie, I’ve been more doing one food every 2-3 days. I’ve been really tempted this week to just screw it all and go eat a cheeseburger, but then that would be stupid because it would pretty much negate everything that I have done for the past three weeks. My stomach is definitely feeling much better!! Now to find the culprit. Here were the foods I re-introduced in the past week.
White Wine (Nov 8) – got drink pretty easily. I only drank two glasses. The next day I was having stomach cramps, diarrhea and nausea but I’m thinking it was more related to some pepperoni I ate (with no fillers, msg or gluten or dairy, so not sure what aggravated my stomach … Maybe the spices.) I haven’t had white wine since, so I will have to try this one again later and see what happens.
Eggs (Nov 11) – Had them at breakfast. 4 hours later my stomach was hurting and I had nausea; however I had also taken naproxen so that could have been irritating my stomach. I ate them for supper and felt fine. I also ate them the next day on two occasions and everything felt good!
Oranges (Nov 13) – I know it’s only 2 days later but I couldn’t resist the 5 lb box of Chinese mandarin oranges!!! Ate it at breakfast and after lunch. Felt very fatigued today but I don’t think it’s related. Then in the evening I developed nasal stuffiness and congestion that lasted the next day. I think it’s just allergy-related (environmental), but I went a day without and tried it again and everything was good. I ate five pounds of mandarin oranges in about four days!!!
Potatoes (Nov 15) – Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been craving potatoes big time. Initially, no problem after eating them. I did feel a little bloated but thinking it’s more related to the amount I ate than the fact I ate potatoes. I had them again this morning, but with bacon and eggs. My stomach didn’t appreciate it… or was it the coffee it was rebelling against? Maybe it was the bacon and the fact I cooked my eggs in bacon fat? I will probably cut it out again and try to re-introduce it later to be sure.
In summary, eggs and oranges are good. Potatoes are questionable. White wine is probably alright but I will need to check it again.
It feels great to bring back some variety into my life with the addition of these foods! There’s not really any rhyme or reason to the order I am bringing foods back, although I’ve read it’s better to bring the suspicious culprits back last. That means dairy products and gluten will be close to the last thing I introduce. Not sure what is next for me, but I am considering bananas.
I also think that my stomach is not appreciative of too much coffee. I have cut back on my coffee intake drastically. Now I have half decaf one to two times a day and otherwise I drink green, oolong or peppermint tea. After the initial withdrawal, it has been fine. This morning I drank full caff coffee and my stomach is rebelling. At least I think it is from the coffee and not the potatoes.
There are definitely some things I want to keep in my diet after this is all said and done. The biggest thing I have learned from this is the crap that is put in our food is ridiculous!!! We have started buying ALL our meat now from a local deli/meat shop. All of their meat comes from local farmers who don’t use antibiotics or hormones in their animals. We buy only free range chicken now. I don’t know if it makes a difference but I can certainly tell you that it tastes so much better!!! I will continue to try and eat REAL food after all this is over.
I am loving the sweet potatoes. I am getting a little sick of them since I was eating them every day for a while; however, this is definitely a food I would like to include on a weekly basis in my diet.
The green smoothies have been amazing and tasty. It’s been my go-to snack and breakfast item (usually with something else at breakfast). I used to always add dairy to my smoothies and now I know that I don’t need to do that and have them still taste amazing!
Before this, I had a standard pre-run/pre-workout breakfast of bagel with cream cheese and maybe a banana. This elimination diet has forced me to think outside the box. I didn’t think I would tolerate anything else before a run/workout, but I was pleasantly surprised! A smoothie and sweet potatoe before a run seems to be a perfect combo for me. Also chicken breast with smoothie works pretty well too. I even had eggs with a smoothie before a work out and that worked. Eggs with sweet potatoe was awesome too. This is great for me because I think these options are way healthier and nutritionally dense than a bagel with cream cheese.
I ate A LOT of bread products before this elimination diet. I would love to be able to continue to limit those products even if I do tolerate gluten just fine.
Well that is all about what I am learning so far from this process. It has definitely been worthwhile but it hasn’t been without its challenges. The volume of food I am eating has been ridiculous, but it’s been a lot of fruit and veggies which is awesome.
Order Christmas gifts – Nope
luckytiff 