posted
For those who have fully recovered, what was your diet during treatment? What foods did you completely eliminate? What foods did you use minimally? Any other diet changes that you made while undergoing treatment? What is your diet while maintaining recovery?
Thanks so much for being here and supporting us!
-------------------- PHOENIX: mythical bird that rises from the ashes July '09 got sick very quickly could barely get out of bed - ND diag lymes.. and the journey began bite: unkown - no rash Posts: 248 | From private | Registered: Jul 2010
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lululymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 26405
posted
Excellent question! I was wondering the same thing. Looking forward to those answers.
posted
No sugar. I would have a treat once in a while (no more than a tiny treat once per week, but not every week, just when I really felt like one), but the longer I was off it, the less I liked it.
No alcohol. Ever. Once during an abx break I had one drink.
I ate more protein than I do now. I used whey protein powder with frozen berries twice per day. I also ate eggs nearly every day.
I had to eliminate gluten for two years, after a while my gluten intolerance was gone.
No artificial sweeteners. I would use a tiny amount of maple syrup if I needed a sweetener.
Now I eat healthy still. My gut still hasn't recovered completely, so I can't handle raw vegetables, though I can eat a small side salad, so it's getting better. I make all our food fresh, from scratch.
I ferment ... sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha.
I'm finding it's hit or miss on whether I can tolerate alcohol. If I have a very small amount, I'm okay, though I get tipsy very quickly. I think it's better not to drink. I have a weird reaction to it .... no hangover in the sense of headache, nausea, etc. ..... it's more like my blood pressure feels like it plummets and my pulse quickens .... the reaction is like what they describe in Asians who are intolerant, but I'm not Asian. My lymphatic system also is sensitive for a couple days afterward. So, I don't really drink.
I also don't eat sugar. I just don't like it. After years of hypoglycemia, I associate it with the blood sugar crash that comes afterward.
I still do a lot to detoxify. I figure after years of having lyme, having had mold exposure, having had heavy metals, and two years of abx, I'm bound to be toxic.
I exercise regularly. I'm a pilates instructor.
I also work to keep my vitamin D levels up - sunshine in the summer, supps and my Mercola tanning bed in the winter.
I don't take anything for infections any longer. Next month is my one year anniversary of remission.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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bcb1200
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25745
posted
I'm not completely well, but am better. I do no booze / caffiene.
I, Generally, have no / low carbs (no wheat) and no sugar. But I usually cheat 1x / week and have pizza and ice cream otherwise I go insane.
I have found that since I take nystatin I can cheat a bit on the diet
-------------------- Bite date ? 2/10 symptoms began 5/10 dx'd, after 3 months numerous test and doctors
IgM Igenex +/CDC + + 23/25, 30, 31, 34, 41, 83/93
Currently on:
Currently at around 95% +/- most days. Posts: 3134 | From Massachusetts | Registered: May 2010
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posted
It is hard at first to give up wheat and sugar. I am 95% off gluten and 95% off sugar. If I say absolutely none, then my inner child rebels and life is miserable!
-------------------- PHOENIX: mythical bird that rises from the ashes July '09 got sick very quickly could barely get out of bed - ND diag lymes.. and the journey began bite: unkown - no rash Posts: 248 | From private | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Im not recovered...but drastically better. I do no caffeine..no alcohol..no sugar and very low carbs. Some veggies but no pasta or rice. No potatoes. Meat, chicken and fish. No margarine. If i cant pronounce it i dont eat it. No dairy. Use stevia for a sweetener. Drink lemon water all day and tons of regular water. Added supplements. This was my best shot in the absence of an LLMD. I was really bad off and im much improved. Still figuring my way. Oh...ive lost 24 lbs in 6 wks! A pleasant bonus.
Posts: 624 | From Oklahoma | Registered: Jun 2010
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posted
It all depends on how sick you are - the sicker the stricter. I have been healing for a year now and started from a very low place after being undiagnosed for 10 years and already very sick when I was bitten. My immune system was shot and there was nothing I took that helped me at all nor could I take medications - the latter which I am pleased about now. Any herb I took made me ill quickly.
So I started to exclude things from my diet and use fresh vegetable juices. If anyone wants to heal it is a good thing to cut out the main culprits for allergy, even if one does not seem to have symptoms. Read about that from Dogtor the vet.
If you want to benefit from gluten exclusion you must do it properly - the smallest amount will trigger the response in your body.
So I cut out gluten, dairy, eggs, alcohol, sugar, and let my body show me what else to exclude and have ended up on vegetables including low glycemic potatoes, juices from celery parsley and dandelion leaves, seeds some of which I sprout like broccoli and red clover, and some I cook like quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth, chia seeds, brown rice and the occasional pulse. My kidneys are shot too so I cannot have animal protein.
With the help of brown rice and buckwheat crackers, I manage but eating out is a no now.
Because of my diet my immune system is up so I have been able to begin treatment and am on a lot of plant extracts including a product called TicTox which is said to be very good - I am wary of Samento as some say that the initial improvement is not sustained and it puts the spirochetes into cyst form, and I am using Rife to kill the infections. All is going well though my kidneys were in trouble last week and my thyroid is on its last legs. I am looking for frequencies to combat the viruses that are implicated in auto-immune thyroiditis.
So if you are not as sick as that you can get away with less strictness but it seems that sugar and gluten are the worst. Good luck!
mati
Posts: 148 | From europe | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
why do we have to do low carbs? just curious... ya'll are making me realize that I need to get back to being strict about this..I eat tiny amount of wheat and sugar now...but, I should be totally off...I'm almost there so it shouldn't be that hard... still too much carbs, though...
-------------------- PHOENIX: mythical bird that rises from the ashes July '09 got sick very quickly could barely get out of bed - ND diag lymes.. and the journey began bite: unkown - no rash Posts: 248 | From private | Registered: Jul 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- It's not so much low carb in amount - but as in low to moderate on the glycemic index. We need lots of complex carbs from the plant kingdom - in all colors and of a variety of textures for fiber.
No refined carbs (simple sugars) but only complex, whole foods carbs, mainly vegetables, some good dark berries and tart apples - a little whole grain, non-gluten grains such as Quinoa can be quite good. Non-processed proteins, as well.
Basically, no refined or processed foods. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
I did not eat low carbs. I do much better on a higher carb diet, it's all in what carbs. I even ate a lot of starchy carbs throughout treatment. I tried the low carb - protein and lots of veggies - and I felt horrible. Every body is different.
If you're having an intolerance to gluten, 95% gf is not enough, it still triggers the reaction. Try Tinkyada pasta, kinnikinnick breads/bagels.
I ate things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, breads (good breads), pasta, oatmeal, quinoa, etc.
As Keebler said, no processed food. I still don't eat processed food. After eating whole foods, processed foods don't even look good.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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BackinStOlaf
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 23725
posted
I was on the anti-candida diet for months. No sugar, dairy, carbs or starchy foods. I lost 15 lbs. This was not a plus for me. I looked like I was a few steps from death's door. I am already 5'8 and 120 lbs. 105 is not a good look on me.
I started adding in normal foods slowly. Haven't had bad issues with it.
I am still in treatment though
-------------------- First Symptom 9/09 Multiple docs, negative Labcorp test LLMD: 1/10 Positive Igenex/CDC test Treatment 2/10 2/10-8/10 Amox, ceftin, zith, flagyl Currently: Bicillin, Minocycline, still dealing with severe breathing issues
Posts: 1121 | From New York, New York | Registered: Dec 2009
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Here are some good cookbooks & sites - adaptations can be easily made with these. You might consider growing kitchen herbs so you have fresh rosemary, basil, fennel, etc. at your fingertips. --------------------
CHRISTINA COOKS - Natural health advocate/ chef, Christina Pirello offers her comprehensive guide to living the well life.
Vegan, with a Mediterranean flair. Organic.
She was dx with terminal leukemia in her mid-twenties. Doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Among other things, she learned about complementary medicine and she learned how to cook whole foods. She recovered her health and is now a chef and professor of culinary arts.
She has program on the PBS network "Create" a couple times week. Check your PBS schedule.
To adapt: in the rare dishes where she uses wheat flour, it can just be left out for a fruit medley, etc. Brown Rice Pasta can be substituted (Tinkyada or Trader Joe's). Quinoa and the dark rices can also be used.
But she focuses mostly on very filling vegetable dishes and garden herbs.
Regarding her use of brown rice syrup, just leave it out and add a touch of stevia at the end.
From Nina Simonds, the best-selling authority on Asian cooking, comes a ground-breaking cookbook based on the Asian philosophy of food as health-giving. The 200 delectable recipes she offers you not only taste superb but also have specific healing . . . .
. . . With an emphasis on the health-giving properties of herbs and spices, this book gives the latest scientific research as well as references to their tonic properties according to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, the traditional Indian philosophy of medicine. . . .
THE CURE IS IN THE KITCHEN, by Sherry A. Rogers M.D., is the first book to ever spell out in detail what all those people ate day to day who cleared their incurable diseases . . .
==========================
Also look for MOOSEWOOD Cookbooks and THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST
FROM CURRIES TO KEBABS - RECIPES FROM THE INDIAN SPICE TRAIL - by: Jaffrey, Madhur
==========================
MEDITERRANEAN DIET (minus the wheat and the wine) is also good. It's many vegetable based, with delicious herbs in the meat dishes. Quinoa, dark rices - and unsweetened pomegranate juice can be substituted.
Look up Black Forbidden Chinese Rice & the Red Bhutanese Rice. The nutritional content is excellent and these will help fill and fortify you, even in moderation, along with lots of vegetables.
posted
Question on caffeine-- is one cup a no go as well. According to Dr. B it is. One doc I went to told me to by gelatin caps to put caffeine in to get through the day... I knew that wasn't okay as you are looking for your immune system to be boosted. I feel like I struggle for energy in the am. How do you all get it. Day one of NO Sugar... No caffeine - none of the other bads-- I have had a half of cup of brown rice, vegies and protein with every meal. So far, so feeling good! Thanks!
Posts: 243 | From Charleston, SC | Registered: Oct 2008
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Rest when you feel the need. Adrenal support can also help but is never intended to boost. Anytime you feel you need a boost, you really need some fuel or a rest.
Listen to your body - not what your personality/character/ego wants but what your real body needs. It's hard to determine the difference sometimes. It requires some skill to learn HOW to "check-in" with our body.
"Well, I would LOVE to go out but MY BODY just can't." Be careful around whom you say such things. With humor, I've tried using that to explain to others but not everyone gets the humor - or the very serious need for such awareness.
Meditation, Tai Chi, Yoga or some gentle Pilates moves can be a good break and also help supply balanced energy. Sometimes, just five minutes of deep breathing and a good apple with some almonds can be a nice lift.
Spirulina can be a nice gentle support for energy. Good protein in the very green powder from algae.
Green Tea is okay (as the threonine in it calms the slight amount of caffeine). White Tea, is also good.
Adrenal links are in this thread: -----------------
Dr. Ron, a Naturopathic doctor, who has lyme disease himself, has mostly treated his disease with diet and supplements. He has a very interesting website and shares his story about how he manages to keep his Lyme disease under control. This is a link to his story, but while you're there take a few moments to read the rest of his website: http://www.drrons.com/diet-chronic-disease-and-optimal-health.htm
posted
thank you so much everyone for responding to this. There are so many different wonderful perspectives. I guess the key is that each person is different and needs to follow what is right for their recovery.
I do believe you around the gluten.. I've heard that before. I'm trying... almost there and I need to be gentle with myself around this.
I'm down to 1 cup of decaf coffee in the morning with cream and honey, and one sweet treat during the day. I'll let go of these as soon as I can.
Keebler: you are such a wealth of information. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us!
-------------------- PHOENIX: mythical bird that rises from the ashes July '09 got sick very quickly could barely get out of bed - ND diag lymes.. and the journey began bite: unkown - no rash Posts: 248 | From private | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Yes, thank you all too... And Keebler, especially on the white tea and gentle energy boosters-- much appreciated!
Posts: 243 | From Charleston, SC | Registered: Oct 2008
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