Elimination diet?

[AliciaAnne]

I was diagnosed with IC about a year ago and I've been denying that food affects me, mostly because of all the foods on the "no" :tsk: list are my favorite foods. I'm finally fed up enough to do some sort of elimination diet to try to find which foods cause flare ups but I have no idea where to start and I'm really overwhelmed. Has anyone done this and can suggest food I should start with? Thanks!

[mbhbarb]

Hi Alicia,

I did the elimination diet in steps, working from the IC diet. First, I stuck with the probably ok foods (no matter how much I wanted other stuff like coffee and wine) and I kept a food journal. It's cumbersome, but temporary, to keep a journal. That really helped me see what foods bothered me. For me, within an hour or so I would know. Ouch. Even on the probably ok list there were foods that I discovered caused me pain. Over time I developed a list of foods that worked for me, and a list I had to avoid. Then I expanded to the might be ok list and picked off items one at a time to try, adding the foods to my lists every time. Finally I expanded to the probably not ok list using the same process and discovered there were quite a few things on there I could eat.

The other thing I discovered is that I could eat a little of many foods, but if I tried larger servings they would bother me. You might discover that having a square or two of chocolate a day is ok even though if you ate a chocolate bar you would flare. I found out that I could have 1/2 cup of coffee (enough for a cafe au lait) a few days a week but not coffee every day. I even drink wine once in awhile with no problem.

It takes some work and some time, but if you go slowly and pay attention you can discover what foods work for you. Good luck!

barb

[VickiB]

I was a bit more obsessive. For about two weeks I ate homemade baked chicken, potato with butter, homemade bread, and either peas or corn. My symptoms really improved. Then I began to add in one new food at a time from the eat & enjoy column, allowing two days between each introduction.

I find it hard to suggest starting with all the food in that column right away because some of the items there do cause me to flare. It seems to me the best chance for success would be to start off with the smallest variety of foods you can stand.

Vicki

[mbhbarb]

Goodness, I didn't mean to suggest that you start with the whole list. I couldn't eat everything on there either. Thanks, Vicki, for clarifying that. Initially I picked foods from the list that I felt were safe for me and expanded from there. But I didn't try any of the more dangerous foods until I had exhausted the first list. I couldn't have done it without keeping a journal, but my body is quick to react so it's pretty straight forward for me to figure out what hurts me. You will discover what works best for you once you start experimenting with it.

barb

[VickiB]

Ooops! I missed what you were saying there! Sorry! In the past some have explained doing the elimination diet by only eating the foods in the usually okay column.

Keeping a food diary is a really good idea. It can make the correlation between food/drink and symptoms very clear.

Vicki

[Julie B]

Hi everyone,

Just so you know the diet has been updated. Jill doesn't have the latest version uploaded yet on the website here, but I have the final version on my website that you can download.

When Dr. Moldwim reviewed the last version he wanted more on the elimination diet, so we reworded the intro. It is as concise as we could make it. I am going to try to put it on two pages so that printed on front and back it really will be only one.

In the meantime, here it is:

The IC Food List (http://nutraconsults.com/The%20IC%20Diet.pdf)

Let me know what you think!

[mbhbarb]

Vicki,

The way I said it was confusing. Thanks again for making it more clear. I liked your suggestion of foods to start with; it sounds like a reasonably balanced and filling diet in the short-term. I was compulsive in my own way. I ate only vegetables and a little soda-risen spelt bread, no yeast, no gluten, no aged or processed foods, nothing distilled (except water), no dairy, no fruit...the "no" list was long. I eliminated everything I thought could possibly cause a problem, losely attempting to blend the IC diet safest foods, the pH Miracle diet, and the Candida diet. I don't recommend being that extreme. Thank goodness I managed to add in enough foods before I lost so much weight it was dangerous.

barb

[mbhbarb]

Julie,

Wow, that's WAY better than the list I worked off of. What an improvement! Thanks for including it.

barb

[Julie B]

We are very excited about it! Check out the authors of the document....this was an amazing collaborative effort!