How big of a role does diet play?

I've been obsessively trying out new diets recently in a hope that one of them will work. Ive done low carb paleo, high carb low fat, and various others....

How big of a difference does diet make for you and which style of eating do you find works best?

 

Diet alone does next to nothing for me. Normal healthful eating helps avoid side issues such as nutritional deficiencies or high cholesterol, of course.

A large part of the ineffectiveness of special diets for me (or my daughter) may be that we are clearly in the viral subset with no apparent GI issues.

 

Huge difference! A summary of my diet/supplement regime and results are on my profile (click on my name or photo).

You will find more answers in the leaky gut forum.

 

Personally I don't think a diet will cure CFS - unless you have been misdiagnosed and are actually celiac or something similar. Perhaps people with lots of food allergies/intolerances are constantly activating their immune systems? I also think a diet change is very important if you have candida or some other fungal issues.

I DO have gut problems, but haven't always had them whilst ive been sick. For me NO diet I have tried has made any difference at all to the major, or even minor symptoms. In fact paleo made me very sick and I couldn't tolerate it at all. The 5/2 diet made me shaky and ill. Juicing caused severe lower left flank pain for weeks.

The only diet that has helped me was the anti candida diet, which cleared up my severe systemic candida issue - but didn't even touch the other symptoms, not even the brain fog.

I think you will get a lot of very different (and interesting) reactions to your post.

All the best,
Justy

 

I think that diet is very important, to slow down further deterioration.

 

I cant find what your doing.

What diet are you following?

 

I thought the anti-candida and paleo diet was the same thing.

 

If you click on someone's name or photo next to their message, then click 'Profile Page' then 'Information' you will see any info they may have posted about themselves. My profile page is here.

 

I never had signs of food allergies. I only lived in an inflamatory state. So no matter what diet I tried I did not feel better. I think is knwon that eventually we most develop intolerances and allergies. So example: I was doing paleo but I am allergic to celery, garlic.... So I would think the diet wouldnt' work.

I am allergic to beef, Cofee, Chocolate, celelry, Corn, Wheat, Rice, Most Nuts, Bananas.... Here are the tricky ones: Garlic and tomato. Most everything has celery as conservation, Garlic is everywhere and Tomato. So as I seasoned my food I was feeling awfal.

I don't think one fits all, I think you need to test and make a diet based on your own needs.

 

I guess, to me? The answer depends on how much diet impacts your health. If you have celiacs OR a sensitivity to gluten, then avoiding it will help you. If you have a sensitivity to lactose, then avoiding it helps, etc.

The issue is that I would have sworn you that I didn't have a sensitivity to gluten. I ate it fairly often and unlike my lactose intolerance (gut issues) spoke up in VOLUMES... I didn't notice any impact to my symptoms when I ate gluten.

But, after a third doctor suggested I tried cutting out/cutting back on gluten... I tried it. After six weeks of being as gluten free as I could get, I ate a dinner roll... and had a pain/inflammatory response within 30 minutes. Another month gluten free and another dinner roll (because I'm stubborn and don't want to be gluten intollerant) and the pain/inflammation was right back at around the 30 minute mark.

I've also had to greatly reduce my citric acid intake due to sensitivity issues (canker sores) and greasy/fried foods (lack of gall bladder means gut issues if I try to eat them).

It hasn't fixed everything - but I can see negative consequences every time I eat them - so now I don't. I'm still sick, but am seeing improvements with methylation treatments.

 

Wow. So you seem to follow somewhat of a vegan paleo diet. My only question is what do you eat? Paleo is restrictive enough as is. I can't imagine what would be left if I had to eliminate meat as well.

 

Oh dear - such a small question, such a big answer!

There are vegan versions of most things (e.g. cheese, although most is made from soya, but I seem OK with that), but you would have to look out for inappropriate ingredients (e.g. gluten), although fresh is better than processed. I think you can get vegan cheese that doesn't contain soya now. Some people avoid nuts, nightshades and oxalates, but I don't - just try to keep intake moderate.

I don't avoid pulses, but try not to overdo them. I avoid sugary things except a little fruit, and occasionally some veg that is quite sweet. I use xylitol in tea and coffee, and occasionally have xylitol-sweetened chocolate. I have 2 slices of gluten-free bread most days, and a couple of corn crackers/corncakes. I have potato, and no limit on coconut oil or salt! I eat nuts and also seeds (e.g. in a nut roast, and tahini added to various things).

Lots of vegetables, of course. Cabbage seems particularly good for bowel health.

 

I'm on Paleo since last September and have seen significant improvement after 3 years of misery. No headaches, significantly less fatigue and better mental health.
Im Currently exploring some stricter paleo variations like the Autoimmune protocol per the new The Autoimmune Protocol book to get to full recovery.
Diet is definitely the way to go. You just have to find the right one.
Or mAybe I was misdiagnosed, although the CFS diagnosis was suggested by several people including Enlander.