Discussion: SGB's thoughts

I'd skimmed the thread of comments here and figured I didn't have anything useful to add until I came back and found a specific question to me. Maybe I can be useful :-).

First: my story.
I cut out dairy products in 2006 because I finally worked out a correlation between lactose and diarrhoea. With hindsight, I was confused that I hadn't spotted things way sooner. In 2008, I started to suspect that maybe there was a gluten problem as well, testing avoiding gluten completely, and found that there was. In 2009 I returned from New Zealand, saw a doctor and had a test for coeliac disease. The test came back negative. My doctor told me it sounded as though I had a combination of classic IBS and runner's bowel; and that should just deal with it through diet control and Immodium if it was useful.

Then: my situation now.
I try to avoid all gluten products (wheat, barley, oats*, rye, spelt), onions, beer. Although I'm less worried about them, I also try to shun particularly fatty or sugary food, fruit and vegetables high in soluble fibre, coconut, coffee (big fail here), and red wine. Within the USA, lactose intolerance is common and lactase enzyme tablets are readily available. Not getting enough sleep causes my body to get unhappy and also I get miserable.

Finally: my philosophy.
I try to eat reasonably healthily because I think that's good in general. And I generally adhere to the approach outlined to me by Graeme Ambler who said that with intolerances it's always best to decide whether one cares more about the inconvenience of not eating something or eating it. I keep artificial additives to a minimum. If I didn't deal with everything else I would probably be vegetarian, but purely for philosophical reasons.

All that said, I think my diet is appalling. Going dairy-free cut out a lot of healthy options from my diet; going gluten-free cut out a lot of relatively healthy ones. I try to eat a lot of green stuff, and I often don't live up to my ideals. I only drink coffee at work, but I drink it religiously until I return from a holiday and find I don't need it. I guess there's some small-scale addiction going on there.

My thoughts on funky diets
I simply don't have opinions. I haven't done much reading and I just don't know. What I do think is worth considering is the displacement problem... that avoiding one food ends up driving people to something worse. I would love to eat sandwiches, and sometimes find a pack of crisps and a bar of chocolate on my desk at lunchtime.

In short, I'd advise to try cutting out dairy, gluten and coffee if you like. And that after six weeks, say, you go back to eating them and consider whether you care more about the inconvenience of not eating something or the inconvenience of eating it.


* though I've heard that oat gluten is rarely a problem and that actually people typically suffer from contamination with other grains.

Onions?!?

Going gluten-free would be a sacrifice, but going without onions (especially if all of sudden meats and veggies were a much larger proportion of diet) would be heart-breaking. I think I know what choice I would make there.

What about onions upsets your stomach? I know other people who also can't or won't eat onions, but I don't really understand why. What if they're cooked all the way down and caramelized? (oh pure goodness, caramelized onions!)

I can eat caramelized SHALLOTS! Life is good.

longest pause for reply ever ?

Ha ha! This has made my morning!

I have actually been using a really hipster seasonal food planning website for eating recently and my stomach has been tons better. I'm buying most food at my Farmer's Market and substituting the rest from the supermarket. Really noticeably better, despite not doing anything intentional. And the food is delicious. It's all about the microbiome, I'm pretty sure.

Also I don't really run hard anymore :)

I don't really run any more either, but that's different.