Okay, just to have a record, here is our list of foods that are okay to eat. Some of these I am still testing. N has these weird specks in his poops that the doctors don't know what it is...in reading it looks to me like he is dumping oxalates. So I need to be watching high oxalate foods. He also seems to have some issues with foods rich in salicylates. So those need to be watched as well (So, things like almonds, coconut, watermelon need to be rotated). Also, I am not putting on here foods like eggs that are low histamine that we can't eat anyway due to allergy. Although I do hope to get eggs back into our diet, I sorely miss them!! At the very least the yokes....
Anyway, so here is is our list of foods:
Fresh Meats (not including beef, rotating turkey, and no smoked or aged cuts...like sausage or bacon)
Fresh Fish (Can't eat tuna, salmon, mahi mahi, makrel, anchovies, or sardines. No shellfish).
Gluten Free Grains (but we have some issues here too...)
Fresh Fruits: mango, pears, watermelon, kiwi, canteloupe
Fresh Veggies (with the exception of avocado, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes)
Dairy Substitutes: coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk
Cooking oils: (there seems to be a lot of discrepancy here...but olive oil and coconut oil are listed as okay)
Leafy Herbs
Herbal Teas
This means no citrus, fruits, no dairy, no chocolate, and *fresh* is the key here. The more a food sits around, the more histamine it accumulates. This would also likely apply to souring and/or sprouting our grains...those would be high histamine. Bummer.
But this shouldn't be forever. And really, the hard part is getting N to eat right. And prepping for our meals is a super PITA, especially because the food needs to be fresh, and I have a crazy one year old running around!!!
Friday, July 4, 2014
Methylation and MTHFR
Stream of consciousness post...I have been reading a lot lately about methylation. It started out after I started to break out in a very itchy and uncomfortable heat rash. the consensus for heat rash is to, get hot less. Ha ha. But I was interested in two things...can diet affect rash status the same way it can have an affect on the bodies propensity to burn? And, why would I see an inflammatory reaction to the sun? The answer seems to be histamines. I wasn't reacting to the sun, but to my own sweat.
The reaction isn't an allergic reaction per se, but it meant that something in my sweat was causing an inflammatory response. Thanks to some knowledgeable people on a forum, someone steered me in the direction on histamines. Food histamines. So not another food allergy, but more on how foods can effect bodily responses, and how our bodies can and can't work efficiently enough to handle food chemicals. And not artificial chemicals, like actual compounds in foods.
So, there are certain foods that are high in biogenic amines (Like histamine), and when we eat too many, our bodies get flooded with the chemical. Most people can break down food histamines and never see issues. But some people are lacking the right enzymes to do this. Histamine receptors are all over our digestive tracts as well as in our brains. (Histamine acts like a neurotransmitter in our brains). So, the fact that I was reacting to histamines means that I am not able to break them down enough, and my body had been over exposed. This is a common issue with people who are undermethylated. Methylation is the process of adding a carbon group onto a molecule, and happens for cell communication...like signaling which genes are turning on and off. It's a huge part of cell signaling in general, and can manifest in many different ways.
People who have methylation issues tend to have a mutation called MTHFR. I had seen the term thrown around a lot, but hadn't thought too much about it. Until, again, in a forum, someone was asking about tongue and lip ties and how they contribute to the gut issues we see. People with ties usually have the MTHFR mutation, as "midline defects" are a physical symptom of the mutation. A has an upper lip tie. In fact most people in my Mother's family does.
This is huge! This means that I have a testable and therefore tangible diagnosis...and with that comes treatment instead of trying to fish around looking for the cause of all of our digestive issues. The best part is that the treatment for this mutation is simply supplying my body with the missing nutrients that will allow the methylation process to continue....Food still wins!!!
So, methylation relies on b vitamins to work, and if we are undermethylated, as being high in histamines would indicate, then, all I need to do is supplement with the right doses of the right vitamins and I should see a huge relief of symptoms. There are also some trace mineral deficiency or overabundance profiles that I will likely fit into, and will have to supplement and/or avoid those nutrients as well. (For example copper and zinc rations are a huge issue). this all comes together with a book/doctor that my Mom introduced me too my senior year of high school. Dr. William Walsh. Its fascinating and wonderful that these ideas are coming into the forefront and how this all comes together.
Now, I have ordered a DNA test from 23andMe, which will now only give ancestry information. But they also provide you with your raw genetic data, which I can have analyzed elsewhere to see if I do, in fact have this mutation, and which polymorphisms are present. Then I can have my blood tested for other markers and nutrients and then we should be well on our way to healing. And if this all works for me, then I can have the kids tested too, and besides supplementing and eating a clean diet, we should be able to feel normal! Hallelujah!
For right now, I need to be more aware of my histamine levels and high histamine foods. And nightshades (since they cause big problems for me too). It is exhausting to be this thoughtful about food. But on the other hand, I get so miserable when I don't. So I am hoping that this is the answer.
The reaction isn't an allergic reaction per se, but it meant that something in my sweat was causing an inflammatory response. Thanks to some knowledgeable people on a forum, someone steered me in the direction on histamines. Food histamines. So not another food allergy, but more on how foods can effect bodily responses, and how our bodies can and can't work efficiently enough to handle food chemicals. And not artificial chemicals, like actual compounds in foods.
So, there are certain foods that are high in biogenic amines (Like histamine), and when we eat too many, our bodies get flooded with the chemical. Most people can break down food histamines and never see issues. But some people are lacking the right enzymes to do this. Histamine receptors are all over our digestive tracts as well as in our brains. (Histamine acts like a neurotransmitter in our brains). So, the fact that I was reacting to histamines means that I am not able to break them down enough, and my body had been over exposed. This is a common issue with people who are undermethylated. Methylation is the process of adding a carbon group onto a molecule, and happens for cell communication...like signaling which genes are turning on and off. It's a huge part of cell signaling in general, and can manifest in many different ways.
People who have methylation issues tend to have a mutation called MTHFR. I had seen the term thrown around a lot, but hadn't thought too much about it. Until, again, in a forum, someone was asking about tongue and lip ties and how they contribute to the gut issues we see. People with ties usually have the MTHFR mutation, as "midline defects" are a physical symptom of the mutation. A has an upper lip tie. In fact most people in my Mother's family does.
This is huge! This means that I have a testable and therefore tangible diagnosis...and with that comes treatment instead of trying to fish around looking for the cause of all of our digestive issues. The best part is that the treatment for this mutation is simply supplying my body with the missing nutrients that will allow the methylation process to continue....Food still wins!!!
So, methylation relies on b vitamins to work, and if we are undermethylated, as being high in histamines would indicate, then, all I need to do is supplement with the right doses of the right vitamins and I should see a huge relief of symptoms. There are also some trace mineral deficiency or overabundance profiles that I will likely fit into, and will have to supplement and/or avoid those nutrients as well. (For example copper and zinc rations are a huge issue). this all comes together with a book/doctor that my Mom introduced me too my senior year of high school. Dr. William Walsh. Its fascinating and wonderful that these ideas are coming into the forefront and how this all comes together.
Now, I have ordered a DNA test from 23andMe, which will now only give ancestry information. But they also provide you with your raw genetic data, which I can have analyzed elsewhere to see if I do, in fact have this mutation, and which polymorphisms are present. Then I can have my blood tested for other markers and nutrients and then we should be well on our way to healing. And if this all works for me, then I can have the kids tested too, and besides supplementing and eating a clean diet, we should be able to feel normal! Hallelujah!
For right now, I need to be more aware of my histamine levels and high histamine foods. And nightshades (since they cause big problems for me too). It is exhausting to be this thoughtful about food. But on the other hand, I get so miserable when I don't. So I am hoping that this is the answer.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Notes For Me
Wow, it's been a long time since I picked this up. It's amazing how much things. Hangs and yet how much they stay the same. I am restarting this more for myself than anything else, just as a way to keep notes. Why not? It's public, so it's kind of weir that I will be sharing some pretty weir details on here, but at the same time, if we don't share this stuff, how to others learn? So here we are.
Since I last posted, I have had another baby...a baby who is now one! How time flies, and how much less of it I have! Luckily with all of the gut healing I did, she seems pretty healthy. Not too much to worry about this one food wise. Beyond strictly adhering to my crazy hippy food requirements, lol! No birthday cake for this one. It's okay though, she loves all things food and noshes on everything under the sun. She has a particular affinity for bones, asparagus, and summer squash right now.
N was doing really well for a while, but as my surprise pregnancy progressed and I became more stressed, we fell off of the paleo wagon, and fell into a more traditional foods paradigm. Which lead to various episodes of take out. For a little while things seemed to be going pretty well. But increasingly N's symptoms began to resurface, and now that he was getting older some sensory stuff starting becoming more obvious. He continued to have GI issues, mostly constipation. He continued to be be finicky with his meals...as do most toddlers, I suppose. His behavior just got worse and worse, and I remember it like a dark cloud over us.
Once we started to get back to a more paleo approach, his symptoms in terms of behavior improved significantly....but again, baseline was still eluding us. We brought him to a GI specialist, who told us to give him mirilax indefinitely. If removing gluten made us happy, then that as cool. But she didn't "deal" with allergies. It was a waste of time and money.
Next we went to an integrative medicine place. It was awesome. The doctor knew our story, since he has seen it hundreds of times before. He was familiar with our dietary ideas and endorsed them. He even had a few of his own to offer. First we did a stool test, then a food reactivity test. I was alittle skeptical of the food reactivity test, called electro dermal skin testing. But you know what, it worked, so I am not complaining. Then the stool test told us N's levels of inflammation were through the roof high....like one of the highest the doctor had ever seen high. There were a couple of other markers that were elevated, and evidence of yeast overgrowth. But no way to really address the other issues until we get his inflammation down.
The food tests eliminated a lot of our go to foods, and combined with the what I already know he reacts to, gives us more than 20 major foods to eliminate or significantly reduce exposure too. Foods like eggs, and bananas, and apples, and dates, and beef. In addition to the dairy, soy, corn, and gluten. Even rice and avocado. So that's what we are working on now. Plus I think that we are seeing more things crop up. It's like what is happening with me...the more I heal, the more my body is healthy enough to react to.
Currently, by removing eggs, N has gone from chronic constipation to diarrhea. And I am having some pretty rotten symptoms myself. So that is where we are. I will be posting lists of the food chemicals that we will have to test, then trying to come up with a rotation diet to test them. Or do the GAPS intro diet and figure out the best order to reintroduce....but I am afraid of dumping high levels of toxins into the bloodstream....along with actually getting N to eat.
Since I last posted, I have had another baby...a baby who is now one! How time flies, and how much less of it I have! Luckily with all of the gut healing I did, she seems pretty healthy. Not too much to worry about this one food wise. Beyond strictly adhering to my crazy hippy food requirements, lol! No birthday cake for this one. It's okay though, she loves all things food and noshes on everything under the sun. She has a particular affinity for bones, asparagus, and summer squash right now.
N was doing really well for a while, but as my surprise pregnancy progressed and I became more stressed, we fell off of the paleo wagon, and fell into a more traditional foods paradigm. Which lead to various episodes of take out. For a little while things seemed to be going pretty well. But increasingly N's symptoms began to resurface, and now that he was getting older some sensory stuff starting becoming more obvious. He continued to have GI issues, mostly constipation. He continued to be be finicky with his meals...as do most toddlers, I suppose. His behavior just got worse and worse, and I remember it like a dark cloud over us.
Once we started to get back to a more paleo approach, his symptoms in terms of behavior improved significantly....but again, baseline was still eluding us. We brought him to a GI specialist, who told us to give him mirilax indefinitely. If removing gluten made us happy, then that as cool. But she didn't "deal" with allergies. It was a waste of time and money.
Next we went to an integrative medicine place. It was awesome. The doctor knew our story, since he has seen it hundreds of times before. He was familiar with our dietary ideas and endorsed them. He even had a few of his own to offer. First we did a stool test, then a food reactivity test. I was alittle skeptical of the food reactivity test, called electro dermal skin testing. But you know what, it worked, so I am not complaining. Then the stool test told us N's levels of inflammation were through the roof high....like one of the highest the doctor had ever seen high. There were a couple of other markers that were elevated, and evidence of yeast overgrowth. But no way to really address the other issues until we get his inflammation down.
The food tests eliminated a lot of our go to foods, and combined with the what I already know he reacts to, gives us more than 20 major foods to eliminate or significantly reduce exposure too. Foods like eggs, and bananas, and apples, and dates, and beef. In addition to the dairy, soy, corn, and gluten. Even rice and avocado. So that's what we are working on now. Plus I think that we are seeing more things crop up. It's like what is happening with me...the more I heal, the more my body is healthy enough to react to.
Currently, by removing eggs, N has gone from chronic constipation to diarrhea. And I am having some pretty rotten symptoms myself. So that is where we are. I will be posting lists of the food chemicals that we will have to test, then trying to come up with a rotation diet to test them. Or do the GAPS intro diet and figure out the best order to reintroduce....but I am afraid of dumping high levels of toxins into the bloodstream....along with actually getting N to eat.
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