2 weeks on elimination diet... now what?

[crunchy_mommy]

So I've been on a soy-free gluten-free corn-free (vegan) diet for a little over 2 weeks now. The first week I felt horrible, worse than ever & almost gave up... but for the past 1.5 weeks I have felt like a new person. I'm soooo happy that it seems to be working! DS (18mos) is on the same diet and seems to be finally sleeping longer stretches but that may just be coincidence.

But the diet is really restrictive & I'd like to try introducing back in some foods soon. I kind of think DS could be reacting to corn (causing bad sleep). I kind of think I'm reacting to the soy or maybe gluten (one or both causing primarily debilitating, constant fatigue) but doubt I'm reacting to corn at all. So I'm not sure what to introduce first. And how do I do it? When do I do it? Can I try it now? Do I eat a whole lot of corn for a day or two & see how we feel? Do I eat just one meal with corn? How long will it take to get back out of our systems if we ARE reacting to it? I'm terrified of feeling horrible for another week+ after a day of reactive foods but I'm desperate to get at least a few more foods back into our diet.

[lyterae]

Subbing.. We've got DD on a corn,soy,wheat, and gluten free diet now (a little over a week). I'm looking for ideas on how to "test" out which of them is actually causing the problem, and how long to wait before we do.

[changingseasons]

Well, usually when you stop eating a food for a while and then eat it again, your symptoms will be more obvious. So you'll probably only have to eat it once or twice to see problems. If you don't see symptoms, I would eat it for at least 4 days straight- sometimes the reactions can be delayed. And yes, sorry... you are going to go through the same crappy symptoms to get it out of your system again.

[mamafish9]

If you have reason to suspect that one of you reacts to all three of the foods you've taken out, then you might need to consider other ways to expand your diet. You could trial each of those, but if you already suspect them, odds are decent that will just get you several weeks of one or both of you feeling bad, and then land you back in this same restricted place.

Are you open to the idea of adding some non-vegan foods to your diet? Maybe eggs, they expand your eating options a ton. Or if you can contemplate meat, lamb seems to be the least reactive around here. We get sustainably raised meat from a local farm.

[crunchy_mommy]

Well -- I am allergic to eggs & I'm pretty sure I'm intolerant to dairy as well... I think I'm allergic to chicken too which was the only meat I liked when I was a kid (before becoming vegetarian) and I hate the idea of switching to a non-vegan diet but I would explore our options if it became necessary. I think to make such a huge switch (been veg for 15 years) I'd really need to comfirm what we're reacting to first. But you make a good point -- and I definitely don't want to cycle through weeks and weeks of feeling horrible. We *can* survive on our current diet, it's just tough.

The corn reactions I suspect in DS always seemed immediate & limited, so I'm thinking maybe I can test that out first. If he continues to sleep well & have no other obvious reactions, corn alone would give us so many more options & I can hold off on reintroducing the others for a bit.

I was hoping the diet would help DS's volatility some but it doesn't seem to have any effect... and I'd like him to not be stuck on a limited diet if he doesn't have to be!