Monday 19 November 2012

AIP Protocol Update + GAPS diet & digestive enzymes

Well, I've had a tough week (food-wise) since I last blogged...I was still experiencing a lot of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) type digestive discomfort, which just seems to be getting worse and worse.  My list of food intolerances is long and seems to be getting longer by the day.  I've tried a month of digestive enzymes, which do help digesting red meat and fats, but don't help me at all with FODMAP fruit & vegetables, which is what I was hoping they might do (wouldn't it be nice if a little pill could fix it all!?).  I also cannot tolerate lactose (though the digestive tables seem to help with this one), fructose, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, capsicum, paprika), egg whites, kumera or gluten (but I want to avoid grains anyway so I don't really care about that!).

Anyway, I got discouraged after a week on the AIP because of continuing digestive issues, and decided to give GAPS a go (again)...I didn't get any further than last time (2 weeks) because it is so terribly restrictive it just about does my head in...bone broth soup with well cooked meat & vegetables for breakfast, lunch & dinner!  I am continuing to have bone broth at least once a day for the digestive healing benefits but I can't mentally handle that much never-ending soup.  Also, I realised after re-reading the GAPS book that pretty much everything you add back in after to the initial soup stage is either FODMAP, nuts, dairy or nightshades! 

So, I'm still avoiding nightshades (because I KNOW they cause my hands to ache), still avoiding egg whites, although I'm going to try and add them back in soon and see how I go.  I seem to tolerate a small amount of nuts (but I find it hard to stop once I start eating them!).  I am okay with two small pieces of 85% dark chocolate (but again, hard to stop at that!). 

I am just about out of my digestive enzymes, so I decided to give the developed-in-NZ kiwifruit product Phloe a trial (I love that it's a 100% natural product and I know I can tolerate kiwifruit reasonably well compared to most other fruits) ...it sounds really good and the testimonials are encouraging, so I will let you know how I go with those in a week or so.  I also ordered a multi vitamin (I'm not usually a fan, but I'm worried about my lack of vitamins and minerals on such a restrictive diet!).  This one was the best and most natural looking one I could find (if you have any recommendations, let me know!).

 
 


So, anyway, all in all, not much progress really!  I continue to be frustrated and necessarily obsessed and preoccupied with improving my digestion as I sure would like to eat more fruit & vegetables!  I would love to hear from anyone who is dealing with similar issues, so please leave a comment! 

2 comments:

  1. Poos I just left a big message but lost it. What I was going to say is that I have a friend who caught a parasite from a swimming pool and it ruined her gut. She was on GAPS for a year and now she's gluten, egg, and dairy free. She sees a Dr who organised a Bioscreen fecal microbial analysis which looks at the good and bad bacteria levels in your gut including staph and strep. It's not cheap at around $300 but its the most comprehensive test of its kind. I read about a guy who had 80% strep in his bowel! Once you have the results you can take strong probiotics if you need to and/or antibiotics. I know it's offered in NZ but I'm not sure if its Bioscreen or another company. Ben is having it done soon. We're following FODMAPS with him and just from eliminating apples his sore tummy has gone. Amazing. Apparently a lot of people are diagnosed with IBS when it's really leaky gut or a bacteria issue. Sorry to hear you're having a hard time x

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    1. I might just have to look into that if I don't get it sorted soon! My problems SEEM to have started from having too much fibre in my diet...I never had problems before when I ate a pretty standard diet. I did a raw food diet for a while, then Nourishing Traditions, then Paleo. I was having 60+ grams of fibre a day (twice the 'recommended' amount) from eating so many vegetables and fruit, nuts & seeds. I handled that fine for a while, and then my digestive problems started. I didn't get sick or anything at all (I know IBS can be set off by an infection). Funny how in trying to eat an extremely healthy diet, I seem to have accidently ruined my gut health!

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