gluten intolerance, other limitations, health concerns

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/6/2002 6:48:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time,

juliejardine writes:

 

 

> Eating vegetarian is a challenge sometimes because I am also a celiac,

> which means I cannot tolerate gluten which is in wheat, barley, rye, and

> there is a debate as to whether it is in oats as well.

 

Hi Julie and All : ) I do not have celiac sprue, but I do have a gluten

problem. I can " cheat " , but I pay if I do (headaches, terrible anxiety).

Because I have other health problems, I try to do what I can not to make

matters worse.

It is definitely very difficult to not be able to eat most grains.

I am a vegan out of concern for animals, but when I went vegan from

vegetarian, I went from having a moderate case of fibromyalgia to a very mild

case. Also, arthritis in my knees just about went away! I should add that I

also limit my fats to olive or canola, as corn, safflower, etc. are

pro-inflammatory.

If you are not already familiar with it, I recommend Bob's Gluten Free

Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal (by Bob's Red Mill). It *is* mighty tasty! (brown

rice, corn, sweet white sourghum, buckwheat).

I am also interested to hear if others have medical dietary limitations

and how they cope with them.

I have episodes of neurally mediated hypotension (NMH). It is a

miscommunication between the heart and the brain which causes the blood

pressure to plummet when it should go up. I just read that soy slightly

lowers blood pressure. So, I will now try to limit soy intake. I think I

feel better if I don't eat soy anyway. I

have Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis and soy, in large quantities may

have mild anti-thyroid properties (this is contoversial).

My doctor feels that I should be eating some animal protein. He does

respect that I can not in good conscience do so, but thinks I should.

 

This is a guy who *is* hip to the arguments for veganism. However, he

thinks that people with certain illnesses that compromise metabolism do

better with animal protein because it is easier for the body to assimilate

animal protein and certain minerals such as sulfur are not found in high

concentrations in plant protein.

Ultimately, he doesn't bug me that much about it, but he is clear that

he thinks that I should eat meat or eggs.

Well, I didn't mean to go on for so long, but it's the first post I saw

where someone else was talking about medical dietary restrictions and I got a

little carried away!

Stephanie

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Along the same lines, I would LOVE if anyone had info

on being vegan and dealing with candida albicans. All

of the candida info I have come across has been omni

focused and not very helpful.

 

Thanks!

 

Nicole

 

 

 

Health - Feel better, live better

http://health.

[Guest guest]

> Along the same lines, I would LOVE if anyone had info

> on being vegan and dealing with candida albicans. All

> of the candida info I have come across has been omni

> focused and not very helpful.

 

Nicole,

 

Here is something I posted to the list a few months ago about Candida. I

don't remember who asked about it...

 

I do not see the immune system addressed much in talk about candidiasis. I

sometimes wonder if strengthening the immune system to take care of the

Candida isn't where the focus should lie rather than worrying about

" feeding " the Candida or killing it in artificial ways. But, I am aware of

no research on this (and haven't checked since I posted this the last time).

There must be hundreds of theories about how to strengthen the immune

system. I would think the first place to look is whether someone is eating

enough protein and getting enough rest.

 

Here is what I posted:

-----

 

When I was doing my dietetic internship, I spent 2 weeks at a fatigue

clinic. The two M.D.'s there assumed that just about everyone who came in

with fatigue had a candida infection. They believed that candida is a major

cause of fatigue. There are some connections between candidiasis and chronic

fatigue syndrome. These doctors put their patients on either nystatin or

diflucan (anti-fungals), as well as a very low carbohydrate diet. Some of

the people had stool samples performed that tested positive for candida. But

even if their stools came up negative, they were still treated for candida

as the doctors said that since candida clings to the GI tract you won't

necessarily have any in your stool. I don't know if this is true. They

reported something like a 90% success rate with their patients, but my

experience there did not back up such a figure. I got the impression that at

most, half of the patients were having any sort of success.

 

 

 

Great Smokies diagnostic laboratory can test your stool for candida and then

test certain anti-fungal agents against it to see if they are effective. I

don't know if this is valid, or not. You need a physician to order the test.

You can call them at 1-800-646-7788. They can probably refer you to a

physician in your area.

 

 

 

Caprylic acid and garlic are two things you can buy at the health food store

that are thought to be effective at killing some strains of candida. Again,

I don't know if they really work.

 

 

 

The only thing that I have found that I believe to be reliable was reported

in:

 

 

 

Cater RE. " Chronic intestinal candidiasis as a possible etiological factor

in the chronic fatigue syndrome. " Med Hypotheses 1995 Jun;44(6):507-15.

 

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list

_uids=7476598 & dopt=Abstract

 

 

 

This paper was a review, not an actual study, but they reported the results

of another study by Dr. Carol Jessup (which was not published as far as I

know) that showed a positive response (84%) of a large number of patients

(1100) with chronic fatigue syndrome to an oral antifungal (ketoconazol)

agent along with a diet forbidding sugar, alcohol, fruit, and fruit juice

after 3 to 12 months. Within 2 years, the disability status went from 68.5%

to 1.2% (n=1100).

 

 

 

Though not part of the Jessup study, this review paper also suggested that

people with candida reduce their carbohydrate intake (i.e., complex carbs as

well as simple sugars). The paper said some patients need to stay away from

yeast products (bread, nutritional yeast, etc.). Since these were not part

of the study by Jessup, I'm skeptical that either one is necessary, but that

they might be able to help some people who do not have success doing only

the things that were part of her study.

 

 

 

I would recommend the book, The Yeast Connection Handbook by William Crook,

MD. I rarely recommend a popular diet book, but I think this one is well

researched and gives a good overview of the issues involved. I would suggest

you make sure you get the one copyrighted 1999 (or more recent if there's a

newer one out).

 

 

 

Taking probiotics is often suggested.

 

 

 

-----

 

 

Jack Norris, Registered Dietitian

PO Box 4305

Davis, CA 95617-4305

916-375-0014

jacknorris

http://www.jacknorrisrd.com/

 

http://www.veganoutreach.org/