I have spent the last 10-15 years struggling with IBS, headaches, fatigue, and sinus drainage issues. I had tried all the recommended diets including Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and even a Raw Foods diet. While I would feel a little better I still was not feeling much improvement. I had sleep studies, allergy tests and tried all sorts of medications and herbs, and nothing could pin point anything. When I would complain of fatigue, people would just reassure me and tell me that EVERYONE is tired all the time. This may be so for people who as skimping on sleeping, but I would sleep 8-10 at night and still be able to take a nap by 11am. I also had lots of bloating, dark circles under my eyes, and have experienced 20 lbs in body weight fluctuations over the last 5 years. I was also diagnosed with a multinodular goiter with periodic hyperactive nodules. They were hesitant to treat it because my labs were at the bottom of normal range still and I wasn't having the symptoms they told me to watch out for including feeling anxious, hyperactive, and heart palpitations. All my symptoms are the opposite. Once my labs dropped and I read online that you CAN have fatigue in hyperthyroidism. So I decided I would have further scan and likely have some radiation to kill the nodule so the rest of my thyroid could wake up and do its job. However, the scan showed I actually had Graves Disease (autoimmune form of hyperthyroidism) along with a hyperactive nodule. Meaning that instead of having a sleepy rest of my thyroid, the whole thing is hyperactive. The only cure in Western Medicine for this would be to kill off my whole thyroid and be on replacement thyroid meds for the rest of my life. This hit me hard. They ordered a few more labs (Graves antibody test) and I had a week to wait for my next appointment.
Meanwhile, I decided to visit a homeopathic doctor (Jackson Wellness & Chiropractic Center in Citrus Heights, CA) who is also a family friend. He explained to me that most often autoimmune diseases do not just appear out of nowhere but are the result of an imbalance in my body. Using a pendulum as a guide, we were able to identify that my adrenal system was suppressed but most importantly it picked up an intolerance to soy and nuts. In all my diet excursions I had never considered nuts to be a problem and in fact would consume them for almost every meal. Since he did not have every common allergen in his test samples, I grabbed some of the things I eat regularly and brought them to my next appointment. These included, almond milk, tomatoes, goat cheese, lactose free swiss cheese, a variety of nuts, oatmeal, and wheat. Out of that bunch, the only things that the pendulum responded positively to were the oatmeal and lactose free swiss cheese. Very Interesting! So I decided to buy my own pendulum and I went through my entire fridge and pantry. Even my gluten free breads were testing negatively. So I wrote down all the ingredients and found each individual ingredient to test separately. It was very consistant in picking out the suspects everytime, and my lists of Haves and Can't haves was growing. So I now had a plan! I took several items on my Can Have list and decided to start from there. I began with Chicken Breast, steamed rice, and broccoli for dinner and oatmeal and strawberries for breakfast. I would change things up a bit for each meal, adding something else from the Can Have list. After 5 days I was already feeling soo much better. My mind feels so clear and I have my energy back. My headaches have been gone completely. It has now been about 3 weeks and I feel AMAZING! I immediately lost 5 lbs in bloating and all the cramps and stomach discomfort are gone! And my Thyroid TSH numbers are increasing! My endocrinologist said that she should probably open her mind to alternative causes to disease because my antibody test was negative which confirmed that my imbalances were mimicking Graves Disease and I now have a chance of turning it all around.
So now you are probably curious on what my lists look like. So here you go.
At this point in time my body is intolerant to these foods:
Wheat Flour
All purpose Flour
Soy
All nuts
Buckwheat (which is not wheat and in most gluten free foods)
Tomatoes
Garlic
Goat Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Basil/Pesto
Red Wine Vinegar
Kalamata Olives (due to marinating in Red Wine Vinegar)
Corn Syrup
Corn Starch
Powdered Sugar (due to the added corn starch)
Marshmallows (corn starch)
Milk Chocolate
Whipping Cream
Ice cream (Tested Breyers Strawberry because it seemed the most innocent ;)
Eliminating everything on this list I agree is very inconvenient. You can find these ingredient an probably 80% of all items on store shelves. But this doesn't mean I am living on chicken and rice alone. There is a subtitution for almost everything on the list so I can pretty much make anything I want. The only ingredient I miss the most right now is garlic! So this blog is going to be dedicated to the foods that I can tolerate and to show that I am definately not missing out on good stuff, I just have to find a different way to make them so that I can enjoy them without compromising my health. We have now made this a family affair and have been testing my husband and daughter as well, so taking everyone's interances into consideration is going to make things interesting.
