Food & Dining Recommendations? Autoimmune cookbook

After being poked - prodded - and hooked up to all sorts of machinery - Doc is still not sure of what is causing my problems.

The main symptom is very high free-blood iron but normal stored iron ... which she says is normally caused by an autoimmune inflammatory problem ... also have an abnormal ECG test with a possible past cardiac event, but I'll leave that to follow up with the Doc.

Personal symptoms are chronic fatigue (tired but not sleepy), mild nausea, throbbing veins, bloating, heart palpitations .... did I mention fatigue? ... anyhow ... the list goes on and on.

Then ... after talking to family members, it appears I have a genetically inherited severe intolerance to foods in the nightshade family - no - not just the poisonous ones - with an aunt and great grandmother having severe intolerance, and a mother and grandmother with mild upset.

These foods include potatoes (not sweet potatoes), tomatoes, chilli, sweet peppers (and everything in that family) ... basically all the foods that make up the base of my staple diet. So now I have to rethink 35 years of food preparation and am seeking some cookbook guidance.

All I can find are cookbooks with the extreme Paleo elimination diet ... I know I don't need to go that extreme - just need to cut out the nightshades - and eat mainly fresh foods I've prepared anyhow ... just need a nudge in the right direction and a shift in mindset.

Example of my current dinner diet:

last night - Chicken panfried in olive oil with homemade garlic butter sauce over mashed potatoes (always pure butter) and a simmered vegetable mix of zucchini, garden fresh tomatoes and onion.

night before - homemade pizza with tomato base, and sprinkled with garden fresh tomatoes and spinach

night before - hearty beef stew with a tomato/beef stock base with fresh garden veges (including potato)

night before - homemade chicken curry over basmati rice (sauce contains chilli)

See where I'm going ... I do love a good hearty spag bol ... inspiration needed

 

I would suggest you follow up the abnormal ECG as a matter of urgency.

Years ago my dad had a "silent" heart attack, only diagnosed three weeks after the event. He finally went to the doctor but his only symptom was extreme tiredness. The initial ECG was unclear, but further tests showed the damage to his heart.
Marg

 

Also, have your suspected food intolerance tested properly.

Your symptoms may be related to something else entirely.

 

Living without tomatoes would be a killer! The potatoes etc have lots of alternatives but I do love tomatoes in everything

There are quite a few ebooks around that might help if you want to give it a go and see if there is any benefit to you » Get the Best AIP Recipes of 2015!

 

Cant offer any cooking suggestions but really hoping u get better soon and all is ok!!

 

Going back to the Doc's next week to follow up the heart thing ... she didn't seem urgent about it (as in "come in tomorrow") ... under 50 - not overweight - no family history anywhere ...

... I'm with you Westminster ... I love tomatoes and chilli's in everything (eggplant is on the list but I hate eggplant) ... going to be such a mind shift. I did look at the AIP cookbook but considered it too extreme. Think I'll just go thru my current cookbooks and mark any yummy looking recipes that don't contain the "no go" foods

 

I will do - but interesting that the symptoms (an possible causes of such) are so closely related to a genetic condition being passed down the line ... and I've had most of them for as long as I can remember (decades) - especially the fatigue - although they are getting more pronounced as I get older ...

... severe intolerance causes gut inflammation ... (have symptoms)
... inflammation leads to leaky gut ... (have symptoms)
... leaky gut leads to autoimmune reaction ... (have symptoms verified by blood tests)
... autoimmune reaction leads to excess free iron in the blood ... (verified by blood tests)

 

Has she checked your inflammatory markers? ESR? CRP?

 

Might have and will find out at the appointment, as there was a fair list ... first name basis at the path lab.

Last lot was checking protein in urine - EGC - and the other blood stuff list I can't remember. The protein and ECG were the main markers when the receptionist rang to ask me to come back in.

Round before that was sugar, liver, kidneys, recheck iron and some other stuff ... before that we started with liver, kidneys, iron, cholesterol (bad low, good high) and other normal first round middle age female checking stuff

 

Your symptoms are very non-specific. I'm not sure a definable cause will be found, but probably pays to be checked out. Good luck.

 

Tomato free bolognaise sauce - sounds interesting!
TomatoLess Meat Sauce - Against All Grain

 

Lizzie
My daughter has an autoimmune problem causing painful inflammation. In and out of hospitals for the past 3 years, she was diagnosed with cancer, then an anaerobic exotic infection, then osteo mylitis, then some dermatology thing them some haematology thing. There are no labels for what she has .... Yet.

Doctors reject the idea that diet can help. However diet is the single physical thing you use to interact with your environment - it HAS to help!

We have been following a specific back to basics, clean eating, no supermarket crap, basic game meat and veg diet. It has made a huge difference.

I can write a book on it. Call me, happy to discuss what has worked for us.

 

Hyperthyroidism?

 

Lizzie, I'm not a doctor so pay more attention to Bran than myself, but it might be worthwhile having a test to see if you're HLAB27 Positive and whether (after a definite discussion with your doctor) Methotrexate might be something that could assist you.

Obviously this should definately be assessed by a medical professional before any steps are taken...

 

I have used information from the Home - Food Intolerance Network for the Failsafe Diet to highlight several food types that I am intolerant too and where causing symptoms. After sticking with the Fail Safe Diet for three months (not easy) I slowly reintroduced food types one/two at a time to work out if it is a trigger for the symptoms. This process took a very long time for me however I had to do it. There could be easier ways to do this with various tests however this is the path I took and it has made a huge difference in my life. Each person is unique so what worked for me probably will be totally difference for someone else which is frustrating IMO.

Have a look at Herb Robert Tea for a way to improve the immune system.

For the record my food intolerance which I am aware of includes:

Wheat; All Processed Sugars (natural sugars from fruits are ok); Eggs; All Dairy products.

Working around these involved a major change in my diet however I focused on lots of fresh meat, fish, veggies and fruits. Being western I do miss cereals, breads, pasta, sweets, etc however you get use to it over time. Plus I have been able to find gluten/dairy/sugar free alternatives for some items as they become available in stores.

 

Hi Lizzie,

I read your post to my wife - it's the first thing she's ever taken an interest to on a property forum... and of course its not about property! My wife has been working on her health and food intake most of her life and finally has a pretty good grasp of what works for her, not to say it's right for others. I started a thread on PC that you can search for about her journey with her diagnosis and treatment of lyme disease which is known as the great imitator because it mimics so many other diseases, particularly auto immune disease because it infects so many different parts of the body. Lyme disease is a bit 'in' at the moment so a lot of people are jumping to conclusions saying they, or someone they know has it. Please dont think Im jumping to conclusions, just want to share our experience in case it helps.

She was misdiagnosed with all sorts of things such as ms, cerebral palsy, chronic fatigue etc before lyme. Some of the symptoms you outlined are very common in lyme patients, including heart pulpitations or irregular heart beat, extreme fatigue (one of the biggest symptoms,) and connections to auto immune problems and co-infections like gut issues (leaky gut, bloating, intolerances, histamine reactions)

Again, Im not suggesting you necessarily have lyme because there could be so many causes for those symptoms but it might be worth ruling out lyme. The difficulty is most drs either dont know enough about it to diagnose it or wont diagnose it because there may be repercussions if they do, given that it isnt meant to exist in Australia. Failing that, my wife suggested you check out histamine levels and it sounds like you're looking into gut health, which she says is ultimately where poor health comes from, so regardless of the cause its important to fix the health of the gut. A good wholistic biomedical dr who considers gut health will be invaluable here. I have the name of a few in Sydney if you want to PM me.

As for books, she suggested a book called Whole 30 (google it). There are a lot of good books about gut health out there so its about choosing one that works for you. After lyme treatment shes been working really hard to get coinfections under control, balance minerals etc through supps and has had success on a high fat, low carb, sugar free, low histamine diet. Not saying it is right for everyone, but it works for her.

Feel free to PM me at any time.
Good luck

 

Super thanks everyone - my new Doc is very proactive and young-ish (so considers diet and complimentary options) ... will make a list of things to ask ...

The one reason I do think it might be the "nightshade" foods is that, after speaking with my mum, there is a traceable family history, and it is a genetic intolerance - with some members being only mildly affected and others that can't look at a potato/tomato without falling violently ill ... example being ... apparently my aunt snaffled a few takeaway chips of her daughters plate the other day, even knowing they weren't good for her but they smelt so yummy, the following day she felt totally exhausted and gut bloated etc.

Went supermarket shopping yesterday and over half the trolley was fresh vege (another quarter being fresh meat, tinned lentils/beans, organic unhomogenised milk etc) ... as it should be!

 

Check out the Sue Dengate page Home - Food Intolerance Network

Based on research at RPA, not quackery.

Our kids have some food intolerance issues and it has helped greatly.

Your symptoms sound similar to what we have observed.

 

Just noticed @citystar also posted this.

The thing I found incredibly interesting, and yet something most people (including doctors) are not aware of is the impact that "healthy" foods can have.

 

The RPA also do some good stuff around elimination diets. Basically cutting out everything then slowly and methodically reintroducing things to diagnose what is causing grief. It's pretty drastic but worked wonders with our young daughter.