Questions on how to do the elimination diet

[gracezw]

I am helping a friend with mouth ulcers issues learn about the elimination diet.

I have read this:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2002nl ... 00diet.htm

I would like to know:

1) How many weeks does she stay on the safe food items?
2) Does she spend a week at a time on each added-back food item?

Thanks!

[VeganDisciple]

Hi, sorry for the late response. From what I understand it goes something like this:

1) Eat the safe foods for the first week (if symptoms don't disappear, maybe something else should be suspected (bacterial infection or other disease? maybe even environmental exposure to something?) Also at that point you can try researching some different types of probiotics and see if that brings any relief. McDougall wrote a pretty informative article about probiotics here: https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... 0propf.htm)

2)If symptoms disappear in a week, eat high amounts of one suspected food for 2 days.

3)Continue to eat safe food while waiting a few more days to see if any reaction shows up

4)If there was no reaction, try introducing one more suspected food. If you notice a reaction, continue to eat safe food for 4-7 days (until the reaction goes away?) before introducing a new food.

5)Repeat the process for as many different suspect foods as you wish to test. If it were me though, after finding a food that causes a reaction, I would try eating the McDougall diet minus whatever food caused the reaction, and see if that does the trick because the elimination diet is no fun whatsoever. I only made it through one repetition of this diet in the past, but broke out in hives on about the 6th day of the diet. My problem ended up being a chronic bacterial infection wreaking havoc on my body (This is a much more common problem than the "powers that be" would like us to believe). If the probiotics are as miraculous as they were in my case, good luck figuring out what it is but I can give you more information at that point if you want. To rule out the most probable causes. The testing procedures for these things in the US are nearly completely unreliable, take heed that you're not deceived. I'm currently looking for a doctor that does complement fixation (CF) testing which was the gold standard for testing mass populations for some of our most common chronic bacterial infections for many decades, even as late as 1999. Now they have these Nucleic Acid testing (NAT, NAAT) that in the cases I have researched, are nearly completely useless, constantly wasting tons of research dollars and tons of patients' money, because the DNA of the bacteria is changing constantly in certain bacterias, allowing the infections to fly under the radar undetected and spread unnoticed (until they can create another test to diagnose the newly morphed DNA, and the process repeats). A very high amount of people are asymptomatic or have very minimal mild symptoms in certain very dangerous bacterial infections as well which just compounds the problem.

Hope that helps! Take care,
-Andy

[gracezw]

Thank you Andy! I have saved it!

[VeganDisciple]

No problem! Feel free to ask as many questions as you have. And hey I have a lot of family in San JO! haha. Have a great day!

[John McDougall]

See the end of this article on arthritis. Newsletter: May 2014

https://www.drmcdougall.com/2014/05/31/ ... gall-diet/


John McDougall, MD

[VeganDisciple]

The legend himself! Gotta admit I’m star struck right now lol. Just to clarify, you’re referring to the part at the end of the full article talking about the elimination diet correct? Thank you Dr. McDougall for all the sacrifices you have made. Your newsletters have changed my life and I want to take it into medical missionary worldwide! I wonder if you remember this historically accepted gold standard of diagnostics, complement fixation. It seems very simple to perform as well and I believe it could possibly even save the world from malaria plague if not solely for my original purpose of diagnosing these crazy STI’s we’re experiencing nowadays. Blessings to you and your family, -Andy

[Branson]

?

Dr. McDougall you only mention soy. You do not mention beans... Lentils, Black beans, Pinto etc

Yes to beans or No to beans?

Thank you

[gracezw]

Thank you, Dr. Mcdougall, for this!

See the end of this article on arthritis. Newsletter: May 2014

https://www.drmcdougall.com/2014/05/31/ ... gall-diet/


John McDougall, MD

[gracezw]

I am very curious about your medical missionary worldwide. Can you elaborate?

The legend himself! Gotta admit I’m star struck right now lol. Just to clarify, you’re referring to the part at the end of the full article talking about the elimination diet correct? Thank you Dr. McDougall for all the sacrifices you have made. Your newsletters have changed my life and I want to take it into medical missionary worldwide! I wonder if you remember this historically accepted gold standard of diagnostics, complement fixation. It seems very simple to perform as well and I believe it could possibly even save the world from malaria plague if not solely for my original purpose of diagnosing these crazy STI’s we’re experiencing nowadays. Blessings to you and your family, -Andy

[VeganDisciple]

I will now at this moment in time proceed to begin to start to commence writing you both a private message. (Forgive my self-amusement at this point but that verbal concept is from my favorite movie "Idiocracy" lol). I don't think we're supposed to start new subjects within the same thread, this is why I will PM you guys
-Andy

[Bob]

Hello all - Especially Dr. McDougall -- I've been on the elimination diet for 8 days now and feel no health change at all. I have lost weight from 190 to 185 which is wonderful though!

I have cheated a little by not cooking the bananas, cherries, blueberries or raspberries and have had no indigestion issues. Otherwise I have been completely faithful to nothing other than the foods listed in your instructions at the bottom of https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl ... ncases.htm

I have questions about about your instructions...
"Non-starchy green and yellow vegetables (all cooked) include" and "Fruits (all cooked) include"

1. I wonder about your use of the word 'include'. That implies there is some room for other items. Is this true and what would the choices be? I see the options for vegetables, but none for fruits.

2. I'm wondering if all items must strictly be cooked 100% of the time. If so, is there some reference on how to cook bananas, lettuce, berries, cherries, etc.? (Which I haven't been doing.) I'm nowhere close to being a cook! But I have been watching your videos on your site and on YouTube, studying your books, and trying some of the recipes (prior to this diet of course).

3. Has not cooking some things sabotaged my progress?

Thank you in advance!

Bob

A little history on me if it helps:

I've been 70% on a vegan diet for a couple of years, and 98% vegan for a year. (Lost 20 pounds last year from my mostly-vegan diet.)

I'm almost 70 and have had rheumatoid arthritis for about 30 years. I'm doing very well on medications but side effects are beginning to present, and of course I would like to quit them.

[ctondro]

I'm on Day 4 of the Elimination Diet. I've gotten through what I think was a detox phase -- bad headache and loose stools. But now I feel really weak. I'm wondering if I'm not getting enough to eat, or what?

I've been on the McDougall Diet for about 15 years, and I'm on the thin side. I eat until I'm full and I'm eating a lot of brown rice, sweet potatoes and winter squash. I should be able to do well on that alone. right? And I'm also eating cooked vegetables and fruits from the Elimination Diet list.

I want to stick with it, but wow -- this is kind of hard! Anyone else have a similar experience? Does it get better?

[Bob]

I'm on Day 4 of the Elimination Diet. I've gotten through what I think was a detox phase -- bad headache and loose stools. But now I feel really weak. I'm wondering if I'm not getting enough to eat, or what?

I've been on the McDougall Diet for about 15 years, and I'm on the thin side. I eat until I'm full and I'm eating a lot of brown rice, sweet potatoes and winter squash. I should be able to do well on that alone. right? And I'm also eating cooked vegetables and fruits from the Elimination Diet list.

I want to stick with it, but wow -- this is kind of hard! Anyone else have a similar experience? Does it get better?

I've been on it about 10 days now. I'm going to give it two weeks.

I was eating pretty healthy before this diet but not strictly on the McDougall diet (salty snacks and nuts still got the better of me). But I didn't feel any change at all throughout my 10 or so days now on the elimination diet. No headaches, no bowel change, no weakness. But no health improvements either. Although I've lost about 7 lbs.

Are you cooking your fruits? Any tips on how to cook raspberries and other 'wimpy' fruits?

Keep going! So many people are apparently helped by this diet!

It is hard! But I just keep thinking of the benefits in the long run -- I kind of turn off my mind about food when it's time to eat the boring stuff.

You might check in with your doctor though.

[ctondro]

Are you cooking your fruits? Any tips on how to cook raspberries and other 'wimpy' fruits?

Keep going! So many people are apparently helped by this diet!

It is hard! But I just keep thinking of the benefits in the long run -- I kind of turn off my mind about food when it's time to eat the boring stuff.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your sharing your experience. I do cook fruit. For berries, I make rice congee (porridge) in a crockpot overnight, then add blueberries in the morning and put it on high for about 15 minutes. This is enough to cook the berries. I bake apples, and I cook peaches and cherries in a little water on the stove. Not bad!

I'm now on Day 6 and starting to feel a lot better. The salty taste in my mouth is starting to go away. The headache and weakness are gone, and my energy is better. Other strange symptoms come and go, like joint pain in my left elbow, chest pain, and sinuses draining. Depression and anxiety are mostly gone.

I'm starting to think about what to add in at the end of the 10 days! I'd like a source of fat, because I'm losing weight on this diet, and I don't need to lose weight. Maybe almonds or walnuts.

Thanks for your encouragement!

[Bob]

Well, two weeks on the elimination diet and I have not felt any health change at all. I did lose some weight but certainly didn't get the arthritis relief I've heard so much about from the writings and videos here.

Enough suffering -- back to my regular diet.

I hope you all get better results!