Agggghhh. I need to go on an anti-inflammatory and celiac diet....ugh :(

[Tap]

My drs suspect that I have an auto-immune disorder called Behcet's. It is a form of vasculitis and I am in the process of getting the documentation/labs/biopsies together to get a final diagnosis.

 

In the mean while, I really need to go on a diet that covers anti-inflammatory and celiac. I don't even know where to begin. I know there are so many websites with information, I have that part, but all of my quick summer dinners include whole grain bread, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, citrus fruits, spicy foods and pastas.

 

Add in a few food allergies like broccoli, cassia cinnamon, and hazelnuts.... :(

 

Are there any recipe generators that let you isolate foods by 'type of diet' as opposed to individual foods?

[Twinmom]

So sorry to hear that you are going through this! My DH has wheat allergies and other inflammatory issues, and we've had great luck with the Paleo diet. It is designed to eliminate grain based and inflammatory foods, and I find it both easy to follow and easy to cook. There are lots of good cookbooks available that can set you up with good Paleo recipes that are easy and gluten free. Plus, there's a good chance you'd lose weight on it without really trying...we did! Don't know of a recipe generator that would help, but Paleo recipes are easy to come by.

 

Again, so sorry but do know that there are good options out there that will be easy and keep you feeling full!

 

:grouphug:

[Tap]

So sorry to hear that you are going through this! My DH has wheat allergies and other inflammatory issues, and we've had great luck with the Paleo diet. It is designed to eliminate grain based and inflammatory foods, and I find it both easy to follow and easy to cook. There are lots of good cookbooks available that can set you up with good Paleo recipes that are easy and gluten free. Plus, there's a good chance you'd lose weight on it without really trying...we did! Don't know of a recipe generator that would help, but Paleo recipes are easy to come by.

 

Again, so sorry but do know that there are good options out there that will be easy and keep you feeling full!

 

:grouphug:

 

I was researching the Paleo diet yesterday, and I don't know if I can be successful on it.

[Caraway]

I was researching the Paleo diet yesterday, and I don't know if I can be successful on it.

 

 

Is there something that you are specifically worried about? Anti-inflammatory plus Celiac is pretty much the Paleo diet.

 

Have you checked out Everyday Paleo? http://everydaypaleo.com/

[Emmy]

Check out the recipes on Elana's pantry. (google it)

[ktgrok]

I was researching the Paleo diet yesterday, and I don't know if I can be successful on it.

 

Primal is similar to paleo, but with more saturated fat. In other words, paleo is skinless chicken breasts, primal is "whole roasted chicken". The extra fats help you feel satiated and not deprived. You will be AMAZED how easy it is to do away with grains, once you start. I never thought it would be this easy. Mark's Daily Apple has recipes and articles.

 

Base your meals on meat, veggies, fruits, and tubers like sweet potatoes. Add in nuts if you can tolerate them. So dinner might be roasted chicken, carrots, and a salad or some greens. Or sausage served with sauteed veggies liek zucchini, mushrooms, and onions. Dessert for me tonight was coconut milk and berries, with a drizzle of honey. YUMMY!

[Peela]

As a transition (unless you just want to jump into the paleo type diet full throttle) I can recommend that you get yourself some gluten free bread and some gluten free pasta. It will give you some breathing space where you can eat familiar foods while researching new recipes- although I cant say I have found a great gluten free bread yet, I keep trying, and for me its better to have a so so gluten free bread for my eggs, than the rice cakes my (gluten free) dh likes!

 

The paleo works for many people but it is also possible to go a more vegetarian route- that is what we do. We just don't eat wheat or other gluten grains. We eat lots of rice and potatoes and vegetable curries, salads- I eat dhals, miso soup. Dh is strictly vegetarian- I eat a little meat. I like polenta, quinoa, although dh doesn't so much.

 

You will find a zillion internet sites to help you. I suggest you just start saving recipes that appeal and try them one at a time.

 

I have been gluten free for several months now and my inflammatory symptoms have really gone, amazingly, although my auto immune antibodies haven't yet. It IS worth the trouble and it does get easier. I am rarely tempted to eat gluten nowadays because of how much better I feel without it.

 

The kids...I still buy bread for them and cook them wheat pasta. If they were younger I would probably just switch us all to gluten free completely.

 

YOu can do it...and your diet will probably get healthier, and you can get creative in the kitchen. I made an amazing gluten free cake the other day. I was given an emu egg- which is the equivalent of a dozen chicken eggs. It was made with coconut and almond flour. It was so yummy and when you take gluten free food to pot lucks, I can tell you there will always be at least one or 2 others who will love you for it.

[prairiewindmomma]

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Edited November 10, 2021 by prairiewindmomma

[Tap]

Primal is similar to paleo, but with more saturated fat. In other words, paleo is skinless chicken breasts, primal is "whole roasted chicken". The extra fats help you feel satiated and not deprived. You will be AMAZED how easy it is to do away with grains, once you start. I never thought it would be this easy. Mark's Daily Apple has recipes and articles.

 

Base your meals on meat, veggies, fruits, and tubers like sweet potatoes. Add in nuts if you can tolerate them. So dinner might be roasted chicken, carrots, and a salad or some greens. Or sausage served with sauteed veggies liek zucchini, mushrooms, and onions. Dessert for me tonight was coconut milk and berries, with a drizzle of honey. YUMMY!

 

Grains will be hard for me, because I eat a lot of sandwiches on the run. :( I love heavy grain breads with lots of seeds, sprouts and nuts. I can live without rice, but we do eat it weekly.

 

I guess my main concern with Paleo is 'no legumes/beans, and very limited fruit'. These are all allowed on the anti-inflammatory diet. Since Paleo is more restrictive, maybe I will try anti-inflammatory/ celiac and then try to move to Paleo after that.

[Twinmom]

The books on Paleo all say basically to do the best you can to be at least 80 percent Paleo to get as much as 95 percent of the benefits, unless you have specific medical problems such as yours. They would recommend that you try 100 percent compliance for 30 days and see how you feel, then see if you can add in some things in limited amounts. Fruit really is okay...limited just means smaller portions paired with protein sources or veggies in order to keep blood sugars stable.

 

I know it sounds very limiting and somewhat scary, but for me it real has been easy. For example, just this week I had both pizza made with almond flour (seriously yummy!!) and blueberry cobbler (almond flour and coconut flour crust)! Also, I had mango cole slaw, almond/coconut/apple/blueberry pancakes, sweet potatos with apples and mock breaded chicken. All gluten free and grain free! That's not to mention all the yummy meats and veggies I also ate...you'd think I'd gain a ton but I didn't and I feel great. I'm at 80percent, so I did sneak in a few legumes in the form of soy, but kept it limited and still felt good.

 

Just to encourage you...it's not as bad as it sounds. Really. Check out Eveyday Paleo for easy, great ideas for making it work. Hang in there...you'll figure this out.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Twinmom

[sheryl]

Our church participated in the Daniel Diet a couple of years ago. It was a personal choice to get involved or not. I chose to do so without knowing what foods are acceptable and forbidden on the Daniel list.

 

Also, there are different versions.

 

Can any of you enlighten me on this? I'd like to go through the diet again.

 

Thanks.

[sheryl]

Sorry, I hit the wrong button and meant to start a thread.

[ocelotmom]

I was researching the Paleo diet yesterday, and I don't know if I can be successful on it.

 

When my DH brought up the idea of doing paleo back in January, I was a bit skeptical about it, too. My diet was already really limited due to baby DD's food sensitivities, and while I was on-board with giving up gluten-containing food, I couldn't quite see eliminating legumes, rice, and corn as well.

 

However, there are several things that aren't obvious when you first start reading about it.

 

First - "paleo" isn't one set diet - more of a broad philosophy. Some people continue to eat dairy in some form. Some eat occasional legumes, rice, or potatoes. Some don't cut out sugar entirely. Some go low-carb/fruit (and "paleo" and low carb are often equated), some go moderate or even high-carb/fruit. I'd say few people stick to the diet 100% of the time - one of the "big names" recently posted about eating fish tacos with handmade tortillas on a trip to Mexico. And most people have some form of "cheat" they eat occasionally.

 

Second - Some people do better emotionally with cold turkey, some do better with a more gradual approach. If keeping non-gluten grains and legumes in your diet for the time being helps you adapt, great. You'll probably still see immediate benefit from even that much, and then you can eliminate more later, when you've had time to adjust, if you feel it would be beneficial.

 

For some people processed GF food is helpful for transitioning. For others, it's a poor imitation of the real thing. With those people, either avoiding it entirely (most of it is expensive and not particularly nutritious, anyways) or waiting several weeks before introducing those things (so you don't have an immediate taste comparison) often works better.

 

Look at the GAPS and SCD diets. They're a little less restrictive, and may be easier to accept as a start.

 

(Personally, I didn't want to give up beans, but I found that once my diet was cleaner, eating beans wasn't worth the resulting gas and discomfort. Maybe you'll find similar, or maybe they'll be fine for you.)

 

Third - If you stick with the whole paleo thing, your tastes WILL change, and it will not feel limiting - your options are restricted in one direction, but expanded in other, healthier, ways. You'll become less dependent on sugar and able to appreciate the natural flavors of real food more. Processed food will become less appealing. It's easy to look at paleo bloggers waxing rhapsodical about avocados and organ meats and think that this diet isn't for you because you don't particularly like most veggies.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that grains and sugar have addictive qualities. You can't imagine your life without them right now, but, if you're successful at it, you'll reach the point where you can't imagine how you could prefer the taste/convenience of bread to feeling healthy.

 

Fourth - If budget is the concern... While the whole pastured meat/organic produce thing is undoubtedly ideal, I think there are an awful lot of people doing mostly or entirely conventional foods and still seeing benefit because they've eliminated so many other harmful things.

[Tap]

 

First - "paleo" isn't one set diet - more of a broad philosophy. My plan is to work on eliminating a few things at a time and see what I find the hardest to give up. I need to research more of the science behind the Paleo diet, so I can understand the benefits of it, and thus make better judgement calls on what I have some wiggle room with and what I don't.

Second - Some people do better emotionally with cold turkey, some do better with a more gradual approach. "]I am much more of a cold turkey person but sometimes can do gradual. I think the hardest thing will be the bread for me. I rely on bread for so much of my diet that I can't imagine trying to replace it. I think I will try to go in stages, eliminating one category at a time and see how that goes. Finding the alternatives and making recipe adjustments for my most basic ingredients is going to be the hardest for me. It is the quick easy no-brainer dinners that I dread. I can't just walk in a kitchen and throw things into a pan...I will have to plan a menu and shop differently. I think I worry more about the mental part of what it is going to take, than the physical LOL

 

Look at the GAPS and SCD diets. They're a little less restrictive, and may be easier to accept as a start. "]WIll do

 

(Personally, I didn't want to give up beans, but I found that once my diet was cleaner, eating beans wasn't worth the resulting gas and discomfort. Maybe you'll find similar, or maybe they'll be fine for you.) "] I think this is why I dread doing this. Bread, grains and legumes aren't a visable problem for me. If I had major symptoms...it would be much easier. I am trying this to treat my immune system, not necessarily physical symptoms.

 

Third - If you stick with the whole paleo thing, your tastes WILL change, and it will not feel limiting - your options are restricted in one direction, but expanded in other, healthier, ways. You'll become less dependent on sugar and able to appreciate the natural flavors of real food more. Processed food will become less appealing. :iagree:

 

One thing to keep in mind is that grains and sugar have addictive qualities. You can't imagine your life without them right now, but, if you're successful at it, you'll reach the point where you can't imagine how you could prefer the taste/convenience of bread to feeling healthy. "]I really hope I notice an improvment, it will be hard to do a 2mth trial without seeing any benefit.

 

Fourth - If budget is the concern... While the whole pastured meat/organic produce thing is undoubtedly ideal, I think there are an awful lot of people doing mostly or entirely conventional foods and still seeing benefit because they've eliminated so many other harmful things.

"]I'm not worried about the price. We have had our own grass fed beef for 16 years. I buy things like eggs and produce from local farmers when in season and in stores when not. I have a great respect for where our food comes from and try to make good choices around this. I like veggies and often have just sauted veggies for lunch from the deli at work. The nuts/grains/legumes thing....that is going to be hard. We eat A LOT of these. They are major staples. We often have homemade whole grain muffins with fruit and nuts for breakfast. Our favorite bread is Killer Dave's which has tons of seeds in it. I don't buy much white bread, just things like hotdog buns. I will have a sandwich for lunch, a hand full of choc covered nuts for a treat, and at dinner, we often have either rice or beans as an ingredien. Toast with orange juice is often my before bed snack. It is just such a huge part of my diet. :( Oh well, if it is the problem, I guess I will know that it being such a huge part of my diet....was part of the problem ;) Edited July 14, 2011 by Tap, tap, tap

[Snickerdoodle]

Here's some info on for an anti-inflammatory diet.

[Peela]

Here's some info on for an anti-inflammatory diet.

 

Wow, that blog is VERY interesting and I have just spent ages there reading. The relationship between a state of high inflammation and protection from pathogens such as swine flu is fascinating. So the unhealthy, high inflammatory state of most Americans (and Australians) is actually also a protection against the 'plague'. But not against chronic degenerative disease, auto immune disease or cancer (which all kill you more slowly).

I find that sort of thing really interesting- thanks for linking to the blog.