Ic Diet

[andcohen]

Not too sure what area to post this in?? but just a quick question anyway.I am going to start the elimanation diet ( spelling ) & have read the section in the handbook but was just after some personal information on what others has tried??? What are some foods that people had started off with & how long before adding other foods?? ( I thought I had read somewhere her a while ago that somone had only eaten boiled rice for a few days to really cleanse their system of any bad stuff before starting to add to their diet??? would this be right??? Otherwise what would be some other suggestions of what to start off eating for a few days???
Any help with some options would be great
Thanks heaps
Andrea

[ICNDonna]

My suggestion would be to eat only things from the list of foods that are usually safe for ICers and totally avoid anything that is questionable. Then when you feel better you can begin to add back favorites one at a time. When I had a child on an elimination diet we were able to add a food four days after the most recent addition. And we gave him a small amount of any new food every day for those four days and continued it when adding another food.

Donna

[Julie B]

Hi Andrea. There is a Diet and IC board a bit lower down in the list, you may try searching there. We have had great discussions on that topic lately!

You can do the elimination diet two ways, really. One is to start with the most restrictive list, see if you feel a lot better.....then, after a few days add one food in at a time, sort of how we introduce babies to new foods.........we wan't to be sure if there is a reaction, we know which food was the culprit.

Of course, if you are suspecting one food in particular, you can just keep eating the same way you are and try to eliminate that food. The problem with that method is that you may keep eliminating foods and never really hit on the one.

If it helps any, my observation is that 90% of the food we eat is the same 15-20 things. :-)

So begin by writing things down the way you are eating now, marking patterns of flaring, and see which method you may want to use to investigate your diet.

I have some charts that I can email you that I modeled from the one right from ICN. If you want a copy of them, please email me at my address below......

Gentle Hugs....

Julie B

[KeeKee]

Hi Andrea,

I initially eliminated all foods from my diet except white potatoes, butter, salt, frozen peas, and Evian water for 5 days. Potatoes and peas for breakfast was no fun, but I needed to have a starting point. Then I started adding one food at a time from the "Usually OK" list of foods (http://www.ic-network.com/handbook/diet.html#topfive) about every 2 to 3 days apart. If my bladder didn't feel any worse, then I continued to add a new food. If my bladder had some trouble with a food, I waited about 5 days before adding a new food. One thing that has helped me tremendously is keeping a very detailed food journal. Every day I write down exactly what I eat, what medications I take, how much I void, and specifically how my bladder feels. I have been able to add many of the "Usually OK" foods and I'll soon start adding the "May Be OK" foods to my diet. One thing I didn't realize at first was to really watch for additives. As an example I saw rice on the "Usually OK" list and tried eating regular white rice. The next day I was voiding more and had a lot of bladder pressure. The problem.......sulfites in the rice. Then I tried organic white rice from my local health food store....no sulfites and no problems. So, even in the "Usually OK" list of foods you still need to watch for additives. Hope this helps.

[andcohen]

Thanks everyone for their imput on my question, much appreciated.
Andrea