Diet for ME/CFS

[Kati]

The perfect diet is what you eat that you think is good for you and what foods you tolerate. A varied diet provides your body with essential vitamins and minerals, proteins and nutrients that your body needs.

Also your diet should aim at weight maintenance, or weight gain or loss to achieve a healthy weight.

Other than that, food is not going to cure you. Having a treat once in a while (may it be cake, ice cream or fudge) is not going to set you back either (unless you are allergic).

There is no point whatsoever in going overboard. Keep it healthy.

My 2 cents.

 

[Effi]

And then there are the surprises. I've just figured out that I have a stomach acid problem, likely too low, which completely changes my perspective on my issues with food.

@madietodd I've had that too! After an endoscopy (many years ago) my doctor told me that I had too much stomach acid. So I spent years eating as if I had high stomach acid. It turns out it was the other way around, apparently it's a very common mistake doctors make.
What helped a lot was eating loads of freshly ground black pepper on whatever I was eating, and ingesting whole black peppercorns in the morning on an empty stomach. Then throughout the day I'd sip spiced chai (boil in water: fresh ginger, pepper corns, cardamom, cinnamon stick, clove).

 

[paul80]

In that case, you must have missed the whole paleo movement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet

Ah, actually i have read about that a while ago, forgot about that.
Interesting that the PHD allows dairy products when it goes against the paleolithic theory.

 

[adreno]

Ah, actually i have read about that a while ago, forgot about that.
Interesting that the PHD allows dairy products when it goes against the paleolithic theory.

Yes, PHD is not pure paleo, although it is inspired from it. White rice and peeled potatoes contain only minimal amounts of anti-nutrients, and are good sources of feed for your microbiome. Also, tubers and roots of any kind are usually good. White rice is the only grain allowed on the PHD, as the others are deemed too inflammatory.

The main problem with pure paleo diets is that you will be starving your microbiome without starches. Also, paleo diets often end up being low carb, which can be quite hard for someone with ME, as your body will have to work overtime at gluconeogenesis. This will cost you a huge amount of energy.

 

[paul80]

Yes, PHD is not pure paleo, although it is inspired from it. White rice and peeled potatoes contain only minimal amounts of anti-nutrients, and are good sources of feed for your microbiome. Also, tubers and roots of any kind are usually good. White rice is the only grain allowed on the PHD, as the others are deemed too inflammatory.

The main problem with pure paleo diets is that you will be starving your microbiome without starches. Also, paleo diets often end up being low carb, which can be quite hard for someone with ME, as your body will have to work overtime at gluconeogenesis. This will cost you a huge amount of energy.

Good info, thanks. What do you think about dairy? do you try to minimize it?

 

[adreno]

Good info, thanks. What do you think about dairy? do you try to minimize it?

I think small amounts of dairy is fine, if you tolerate (i.e. get no symptoms from) it.

 

[Vasha]

Yeah I have a lot of food intolerances as well too...grains, nuts, seeds, dairy, histamine, fodmaps, night shades. If I stay away from them the difference is unbelievable but my cravings get so bad it's like I forget and just eat junk.

Hi @naoise
Given this, you might consider the Autoimmune Protocol version of the paleo diet, which eliminates many of these things and can be modified for the rest. Sarah Ballantyne has a really comprehensive book call The Paleo Approach (or you can read her website but the book has more detail) which deals with all the categories you mentioned. She also covers cravings in some detail.

One thing that is counterintuitive, but that I finally had to accept for my own experience, is that you can strongly crave foods to which you have bad intolerances. In fact, this a piece of information that might suggest an intolerance.

As everyone else said, it really comes down to what works for you.

Vasha

 

[Vasha]

@paul80 you could look into the Autoimmune Protocol (see above post), too. As @adreno points out, really low carb/low starch can cause problems for some. At least Sarah Ballantyne's version of the AIP explicitly includes some starchy vegetables and fruits like plaintains and parsnips. It's not low carb (I guess it's sort of lowish/medium carb? It's not high carb).

Dairy is a common issue, so you could cut it out for awhile and then see if you tolerate it. It's so individual.

Vasha

 

[naoise]

Thank you @Vasha I've actually heard of that and have ordered the book the other day. I have eaten paleo before and felt great but as mentioned my big issues is starting it and then overcoming the cravings.

 

[Dufresne]

Acid/oxidation and alkaline/reduction are other factors to consider. I'd been eating paleo for years but have tweaked it somewhat over the last few months and reaped considerable benefit. I still eat very little in the way of sugar and grains but I find I can tolerate a bit more as long as I keep the acid/oxidation lower. I do this mostly by cutting out mammalian meats like pork, beef, and lamb. Further cutting back on protein helps but I'm not willing to sacrifice muscle mass. I find I'd probably have to eat three times the chicken, turkey or white fish to equal the same oxidizing effect of a piece of beef. I used to have a pork day as well as a beef day in my four day rotation but I'm doing so much better without them. I've a clearer head, better creativity,and less redness in my face (a sure sign of acid/oxidation in my case).

Cheney has spoken about the acid/oxidizing effect of foods and has suggested a more alkaline diet to be a step in the right direction. For whatever reason we are constantly managing excessive oxidative stress and our energy is compromised as a result. A high acid diet only makes this worse.

I think there's also an immune balance facet to this. The more acid our terrain the more our immunity is humoral dominant. Cheney claims if your redox set point is optimal you will not have intracellular replication of bugs. Many bugs have figured out how to manipulate the terrain to their advantage (and our misery). I know this to be true in my own case where I've babesia releasing some nasty little toxin and this oxidizes the hell out of my system. If the bug is stunned from whatever treatment I might employ then I can eat as much steak as I want. But keeping dietary oxidation lower seems to be an effective way of shifting redox and immunity so I can improve energy and go after intracellular pathogens at the same time: a win win situation. Add to that some antimicrobials and I'm finally getting somewhere..