Am I covering all my bases with this diet?

[KidsHappen]

I have been having difficulty swallowing again for quite awhile now. Bread and meat are particularly hard. I have been eating predominantly fruits, veggies, healthy fats like olives, avocados and lots of nuts and seeds. I eat very small amounts of meat, dairy or carbs. I make sure to drink plenty of fluids and a small gatorade everyday. I supplement magnesium, B12, D3, a probiotic and krill oil. I am feeling fine and I am not hungry or craving anything. I am asking because I have had problems with malnutrition in the past. One of my doctors wants me to go to a nutritionist but I would like to try to manage it on my own before going to another dr. Anything I am missing? 

[Rosie_0801]

If you have access to coconut water, that's better than gatorade.

If you need more meat, making stock out of something that'll donate collagen would be a good choice.

There are more carbs in many nuts than one might think, so bread is rather less a nutritional issue than a comfort. (I got caught on cashews recently, the delicious little carb-fests that they are.)

Could you include more anti-inflammatories? Turmeric, pineapple? 

Otherwise, if you're feeling good, your body mustn't have complaints.

[Katy]

Go to cronometer.com and start a free account. If you log everything you eat for a few days you’ll get a fairly good understanding of what you’re lacking. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

Maybe a far reach here but could it be anxiety? Do you have any anxieties, especially about food? My foster brother does and he had so many food aversions when he first came to us at 7. He has outgrown most of them (he’s 30 now) but when he is anxious again about anything he will revert back to swallowing issues. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I’m wondering about iron.

[Toocrazy!!]

Your diet seems pretty healthy, but the tracking idea is a good one.
to the anxiety issue- I had some swallowing issues a couple years ago, that did lead to anxiety. I thought it was Gerd, reflux, cancer, etc. finally got it checked out and was diagnosed with esophageal spasms. That eliminated the anxiety part of it, and now I can swallow fine. 
A friend of mine with the same symptoms had a hernia which was then fixed and fixed the problem as well. 

[KidsHappen]

20 hours ago, Rosie_0801 said:

If you have access to coconut water, that's better than gatorade.

If you need more meat, making stock out of something that'll donate collagen would be a good choice.

There are more carbs in many nuts than one might think, so bread is rather less a nutritional issue than a comfort. (I got caught on cashews recently, the delicious little carb-fests that they are.)

Could you include more anti-inflammatories? Turmeric, pineapple? 

Otherwise, if you're feeling good, your body mustn't have complaints.

I do get chicken and beef broth, eat plenty of pineapple and cashews.

[KidsHappen]

13 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Maybe a far reach here but could it be anxiety? Do you have any anxieties, especially about food? My foster brother does and he had so many food aversions when he first came to us at 7. He has outgrown most of them (he’s 30 now) but when he is anxious again about anything he will revert back to swallowing issues. 

No, the swallowing problem is a known medical issue. I don't really have any anxieties about eating.

[KidsHappen]

13 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I’m wondering about iron.

All numbers relating to iron are very good. I did have severe gastrointestinal bleeding about a year ago that brought my numbers very low but I had a transfusion and then was on iron for awhile which brought my numbers to slightly on the high side and they have stayed that way ever since. My doc has been checking them every three months and they are good. 

[KidsHappen]

13 hours ago, Toocrazy!! said:

Your diet seems pretty healthy, but the tracking idea is a good one.
to the anxiety issue- I had some swallowing issues a couple years ago, that did lead to anxiety. I thought it was Gerd, reflux, cancer, etc. finally got it checked out and was diagnosed with esophageal spasms. That eliminated the anxiety part of it, and now I can swallow fine. 
A friend of mine with the same symptoms had a hernia which was then fixed and fixed the problem as well. 

I had GERD with acid reflux. The acid was causing esophageal erosion and then when it would heal the scar tissue would tighten my esophagus making it hard to swallow. My gastroenterologist would then stretch my esophagus and that would last a couple years before the process would repeat itself. I have had it stretched three times now. I also had hiatal hernia for several years which they repaired about a year ago and since then I have not had any more problems with acid reflux that I am aware of but am again having difficulty swallowing. My gastroenterologist thinks it is related to the same issues and will probably stretch it again. But my neurologist is considering that it may be a degenerative muscle disorder and I am awaiting further testing for that. 

[BeachGal]

Some people take the compound zinc carnosine for gerd but it doesn’t help everyone. Iirc, it’s being used in clinical trials now. My husband takes it for the occasional gerd he gets. We use Dr’s Best brand but any brand that has similar ingredients would be fine. It can repair the protective lining of the gut.

Track your food for awhile and check zinc especially. (Zinc carnosine contains zinc but it is a compound. Just to clarify.) Zinc deficiencies appear to be behind some esophagus and gut problems.

Foods high in fisetin, strawberries are one of the best, can help to heal or remove damaged cells in the esophagus caused by stomach acid. Fisetin is able to clear senescent cells which are inflammatory. Fresh or frozen are fine but buy them whole and not sliced which can reduce the amount of fisetin. Right before eating them, mash them up maybe in a smoothie drink. For a therapeutic dose, about twenty strawberries with or after your first meal and then 20 strawberries with your second would do the trick. You want the strawberries to coat your esophagus.

Silky, organic tofu might be a good protein to eat. It is easy to swallow and nutritious. Tofu scrambles are easy to make and you could add brewers yeast to get more vitamin Bs.

Your gut seems to be having problems so you could also try eating all your food within an 8 hour window and then having nothing but water and maybe decaf tea and herbal tea that has nothing nothing but herbs. No stevia, etc. Fasting, even short fasts, causes the gut to create more of the stem cells that repair the gut. I fast for about a 36-40 hour stretch once a week and find it very helpful with feeling really well. I actually look forward to it. Valter Longo, Thomas Seyfried and Dom D’Agostino all do research with fasting if you want to read more.

https://news.mit.edu/2018/fasting-boosts-stem-cells-regenerative-capacity-0503

Time restricted eating could help too. This is Satchin Panda’s research. Stopping eating by 5 pm or earlier is ideal because Satchin found that eating after 5 pm led to increases in markers of inflammation such as c-reactive protein. These markers went up exponentially as eating occurred later throughout the evening. A few cheat nights are fine.

[KidsHappen]

19 hours ago, BeachGal said:

Some people take the compound zinc carnosine for gerd but it doesn’t help everyone. Iirc, it’s being used in clinical trials now. My husband takes it for the occasional gerd he gets. We use Dr’s Best brand but any brand that has similar ingredients would be fine. It can repair the protective lining of the gut.

Track your food for awhile and check zinc especially. (Zinc carnosine contains zinc but it is a compound. Just to clarify.) Zinc deficiencies appear to be behind some esophagus and gut problems.

Foods high in fisetin, strawberries are one of the best, can help to heal or remove damaged cells in the esophagus caused by stomach acid. Fisetin is able to clear senescent cells which are inflammatory. Fresh or frozen are fine but buy them whole and not sliced which can reduce the amount of fisetin. Right before eating them, mash them up maybe in a smoothie drink. For a therapeutic dose, about twenty strawberries with or after your first meal and then 20 strawberries with your second would do the trick. You want the strawberries to coat your esophagus.

Silky, organic tofu might be a good protein to eat. It is easy to swallow and nutritious. Tofu scrambles are easy to make and you could add brewers yeast to get more vitamin Bs.

Your gut seems to be having problems so you could also try eating all your food within an 8 hour window and then having nothing but water and maybe decaf tea and herbal tea that has nothing nothing but herbs. No stevia, etc. Fasting, even short fasts, causes the gut to create more of the stem cells that repair the gut. I fast for about a 36-40 hour stretch once a week and find it very helpful with feeling really well. I actually look forward to it. Valter Longo, Thomas Seyfried and Dom D’Agostino all do research with fasting if you want to read more.

https://news.mit.edu/2018/fasting-boosts-stem-cells-regenerative-capacity-0503

Time restricted eating could help too. This is Satchin Panda’s research. Stopping eating by 5 pm or earlier is ideal because Satchin found that eating after 5 pm led to increases in markers of inflammation such as c-reactive protein. These markers went up exponentially as eating occurred later throughout the evening. A few cheat nights are fine.

I am already fasting 12-16 hours a day and I do eat a lot of strawberries. I did talk to my doctor today and he thinks that I a getting enough calories and protein and with the supplements he thinks I should be just fine with this. Thanks for all the info though.