I think I must have a food intolerance,could you please help me work out what it could be?

[Willhm]

Hello,

I get dark circles under my eyes, need to excrete to get the food out the body as it feels very unwelcome there, feel very sick, very tired, loss of appetite, loss of weight, previous intolerances before ME/CFS (Lactose Intolerance).

Any ideas?

It seems like many people with ME seem to suffer from food intolerances and removing said food really helps with nausea. I removed many things in the past that have helped and am now on the SCD diet which is better too, but any this is my average daily diet (it isn't great but ME can make things hard);

2 Apples (small/medium size) (also peeled)
A few asparagus, 3 larger ones maybe (as an average)
One avocado
100 or so grams of peas
A cucumber (peeled and de-seeded)
One butternut squash made into soup (quite a large one generally)
And about 120-150grams of peanut butter (for fat and protein mainly

Now it would seem like the peanut butter might be causing some issues as it is quite heavy going to eat that much (at least for me) but it seems like the butternut squash maybe playing a big part in this, but does anyone have any ideas or input?

Thank you

 

[Sea]

It is highly unlikely to be able to identify a food intolerance by removing one food at a time. It is more likely that intolerance is to a family of foods rather than an individual food.

It's fairly easy to identify food intolerances like Lactose intolerance because the reaction happens within hours of eating the offending substance and is not an ongoing symptom. Intolerances to other foods or food chemicals are not so straightforward though because food chemicals build up over time, the reaction is not so clear cut and we often have a threshold of tolerance.

The best way to identify intolerances is to do some form of elimination diet with an informed dietician or doctor.

That's where you eat a very limited list of foods which are unlikely to cause any problems for several weeks and then begin testing.
If you begin an elimination diet and feel much better after a week or so that's a good indication that something you were eating is troubling you. After 2 weeks of no symptoms testing can begin.

This only works if
1.You're not intolerant to the list of basic foods and
2. An intolerance is the cause of your symptoms

It can be tricky to navigate, but I have found it to be a very worthwhile process to identify migraine triggers for myself and my daughters. One of my daughters has gone from 4-6 migraines a week to about 1 in 8 weeks.

 

[SickOfSickness]

I would suspect the peanut butter, but that could be hard to avoid with that diet. Can you substitute sunflower butter or some other nut butter for 3 weeks? Then try a lot of peanut butter again for a day and you should know.

Butternut squash seems to cause skin reactions. I don't know if it causes others. You could stop that for a few weeks to see.

Peanuts, peas, and asparagus are on the "sulfur foods" list which can cause problems for some people. That's a lot of your diet being sulfur foods. http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/food/high-sulfur-sulphur-food-list/

 

[ukxmrv]

From your diet I couldn't tolerate the apples, the peanut butter and the asparagus. It would also leave me very weak and with much less energy / physical strength than I have now.

Mixture of problems with fibre and sulphur for me in your diet plus a lack of meat/protein.

In the early days I did allergy tests (skin prick and bloods) and after identifying the offending things changed my diet. It was a very large mixed group of foods though and cutting them out made little difference to my core ME symptoms which are mainly viral. It did help with some stomach symptoms but these was pretty minor compared to the ME ones (sore throats, glands. viral, PEM etc).

At the same time as the ME started I developed these Food allergies (had been fine before) I also developed hayfever and asthma and chemical sensitivity. My family is very allergic though so this may have happened over time.

After developing these allergies overnight I then spent years doing various food and pollen desensitization programs that really helped my asthma and hayfever. I also stopped having allergic shocks to things like prawns. EPD for me in particular helped but it took at least a year to see the good effects.

After doing all the desensitiation I was left not knowing what I was currently allergic too but couldn't afford any more blood/skin tests. I had a book on food allergies (I think it may have been by Prof Brostoff) and changed my diet to the supposedly low allergen foods in it, then I slowly introduced new things over time. A diet evolved for me.

My diet today is low fibre, low sulphur with lots of meat/protein and fresh salads. I can tolerate some white grains (like in bread and rice) and a little fruit. No fermented foods. Some cooked vege. Some pulses.

This does seem to be so individual and I don't think there is a clearcut "ME" diet that suits everyone.

 

[taniaaust1]

I think it is impossible for any of use to know what thing or things with your diet you are reacting too.

I myself with the ME have a problem with peanuts so wouldnt be able to have that peanut butter (peanuts give me a tummy ache). Instead I got into having almond butter (before I had to go on a very low carb diet so stopped that).

Around 50% of those with ME/CFS, its been found they have fructose intollerence... so those apples could also be an issue.

Some people have issues with avocado.

 

[Willhm]

Thanks for all the replies. I am trying to reduce the amount of salicylates I am having and sew if it helps. So far I have taken away butternut squash and avocado and added leek, lettuce, pears and prawns. Plus we have bought some apples with low salicylates rather than high. I think as I have been basically without meat or fish for pretty much three years expect for a few occasions, my body is not too sure about the prawns but hopefully will get used to them soon, today and yesterday i had three medium sized ones, labelled as king but not very big, has anyone else experienced this with added fish or meat back in? But so many things could be causing problems so I will try to keep searching.