So confused... GAPS/SCD/Paleo/South Beach...

[swd12422]

Can anyone shed some light for me on the differences between these diets?

I am so confused. I know I need to eliminate gluten, possibly all grains, maybe dairy, maybe eggs.... Not sure what else. I have so many symptoms and allergies and don't know where to begin. One of these plans seems like the right way to start (healing a leaky gut if I have one seems like a good first step and possibly the only one I need) but I have no idea which one to do or why.

Mostly I'm lost b/c my allergies may be exasperated by certain fruits/veggies, so it's not like I can simply go all fruit/veggie/legume/nut diet and be done.

Help? Advice? BTDT?

[Mittsy]

I don't know much about Paleo or South Beach so I can't help much there. I do know that both the SCD and GAPS are intended to help heal a leaky gut though. Both SCD and GAPS are totally grain free, both usually have you abstain from almost all fruit the first few weeks, and both advocate eating only well cooked vegetables, you can have legumes and nuts on both diets but I believe they advocate for them to be soaked and sprouted. The only difference I really know of is that the GAPS diet is a bit more intense than the SCD, or so I've heard.

[swd12422]

Sounds like both are more intense than the other two, except that I think Paleo restricts all or most beans. I'm leaning more towards GAPS or SCD, b/c it seems like red meat can be inflammatory too (if I've read/remembered what I read correctly) but if I try to combine all the plans and avoid everything that could be exacerbating my symptoms, I don't think there'll be much I can eat. I'm having a hard enough time coming to terms with ditching grains, let alone dairy and other stuff too.

[Joey'smom]

Hi!  I'm glad someone could help you with the GAPS and SCD diets because I am not familiar with them.  But I do know about Southbeach and Paleo.  Southbeach basically restricts your carbohydrate intake, drastically at first and then over time you add them back in slowly and only up to a certain point.  I would say this type of diet is strictly for weightloss, and probably not what you are looking for.

Paleo is basically eating whole, natural foods.  Like if it wasn't around in the Paleolithic era, don't eat it.  So most processed foods are out.  But I'm pretty sure that beans of any kind are actually acceptable on a paleo diet.

So if you are looking to heal a leaky gut, I'd go with one of the ones Mittsy explained.  If you are looking to figure out which foods you have an allergy issue with, the only way to figure that out is to go through an elimination diet.

I hope this helps you.

[swd12422]

It helps, and it doesn't... ;-)

It does, b/c it helps to identify what to do based on my goal. It doesn't help, b/c I don't know what my goal is yet. (It's not just weight loss, although that would be nice.) I have seasonal allergies, which I've read can be exacerbated by certain foods like tomatoes and fruits. I have contact allergies, which can be exacerbated by wheat/grains/leaky gut. I have other symptoms of leaky gut, but very mild ones which make me wonder if I *have* leaky gut or just some mild symptoms that are due to something else.

I'm not sure I'd survive an elimination diet, although I know that's probably a good place to start.
 

[Joey'smom]

Well, you could try doing it backwards.  Instead of eliminating everything and then putting them back in one at a time, you could try to take out one thing at a time.  Like remove dairy for 2 weeks, or remove gluten for 2 weeks, etc.  And see if you can find out which things have an effect on your allergies.  Maybe doing something like this will help you more.  And after you know what types of food bother you, then you can plan to eat healthier and lose weoght if that is what you want.

Let me know if I can help you more with this.

[meemee]

do you need to go on an anti inflamatory diet? any of the diets you mentioned above is not really going to help you with that.

arent the ones you mentioned really weight loss diets?

if gluten is an issue usually milk goes hand in hand with it. that means icecream too which has the highest lactose content more than cheese or yoghurt.

if you take out gluten, then i'd take out lactose for sure.

i need to understand what kind of issues you are dealing with and what types of food to avoid.

cut out as much of sugar as you can, including artificial sweetners. do have treats but really just once or twice a week, and dont binge on them. teh withdrawal period is the worst one. once you get over the hump you will be fine.

[swd12422]

I'll have to look up "anti-inflammatory" diets -- that may be what I need! I really don't know. The reasons I am looking into this:

I have seasonal allergies that are under control via injections, but I want to get off them if I can. Over the past few years I've developed seasonal asthma too. I'm hoping that if such a diet exists that will help get my allergies under control, I'll be able to be asthma free this year. I hate having to use inhalers and pharmaceuticals and really just want to get away from all of it. If tomatoes are making my pollen allergies worse, I'll give them up. But that's almost as tough as bread and cheese! I found a web site that had a ton of foods listed that could exacerbate hay fever and seasonal allergies, and it was most of the veggies I eat: tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.

I get mild bouts of eczema that last a long time (well, several weeks -- is that long for eczema? I know there are people who suffer close to 100% of the time, so I'm considering mine mild, even though it's annoying). I have some other skin issues too, some of which have persisted my whole life -- KP on my arms, roseacea (which has nearly disappeared), some acne although now I think it's down to just hormone-related breakouts.

I'm constantly moody/irritable and have trouble with my attention span, patience and my temper at times. Not good, for having little ones around. And I always feel like I could use a nap, whether I slept well or not. I don't usually nap, b/c that makes it harder to sleep at night, and even when I feel I really NEED a nap, I often can't fall asleep. But it does make me unmotivated to do much other than lie on the couch and read MDC.

I have some wacky bouts of insomnia where I can set my watch based on waking up in the middle of the night. Seriously, I wake up and know it's 1:10 am without looking at the clock. And then I do look, and I'm always right, within 2-5 minutes. Sometimes I can go back to sleep, sometimes not. I've read this can be due to tings in the diet.

I am already eating mostly whole foods, with the exception of white flour in things like bread and tortillas. I do my best to avoid pre-packaged foods that have extra chemicals, and make my own yogurt, pizza dough, etc. I cook mostly from scratch, but we do eat out once a week and sometimes I use frozen dinners or sides (like tater tots) with meals. So I'm not perfect, but I'm also not a walking chem lab.

Last spring, I made it my goal to eat 9 servings of fruits/veggies every day. I cut out nearly all grains for at least a few weeks. Most days I made it to 8 or 9 servings of plant life, lost about 12 pounds and felt really good. I don't do well in the heat, so summer was kind of a backslide. And DH and the kids love my pizza crust, so I make it every week. And then there's pasta.... And I just got too lazy to cook for them and then make myself something different. I know that's what I need to do.

But the problem is, I can't eat 9 servings of fruits and veggies if fruit is practically a no-no, most of the veggies I like make my allergies worse, bread/grains and dairy are out b/c of leaky gut (and they aren't veggies anyway -- as happy as I'd be eating grilled cheese every day it's not what I want), eggs may be a problem (I can eat the crappy store bought eggs but the eggs from the farm down the street seem to make me sick), and now some of the diets are outlawing beans and legumes b/c too much could be toxic. But red meat can be inflammatory. So where's the protein? Where are the veggies? What the heck would I even eat for breakfast? (Right now it's eggs/veggies or berries/yogurt/honey/almonds.) What's left?
 

[meemee]

well with beans be selective. dont use the ones with high lecitin. that's the compound that makes them stick to the walls. i cant find the list i used to know of beans that have lesser lecithin than others. soy (not a bean really) of course has one of the highest. soaking beans, then rinsing them thoroughly many times, and then sprouting them (i know two to three days process) i think (i'm not sure about this) might reduce the lecithin. but then you probably know about all this. yeah taking out all nightshades is hard.

i think a lot of what you are going through might be nutritionally related. i mean the nose is linked to the stomach.

really i think what you need to do is go to a GOOD nutritionist. not the typical ones. (sorry i dont know how to go about finding that). someone like http://www.kellydorfman.com/

because sometimes its not what food to avoid, but what vitamins and minerals you need. like are you getting enough of fat (the good stuff). lack of fat does have many side effects.

sometimes its the right combination of foods. like beans with corn makes it easy to digest.

are ALL grains bad. technically buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth are not grains. have you experimented with spelt?

the reason why i ask this is coz dd is gluten sensitive, and i noticed if i got her sprouted bread she does better with it (however we eat gluten rarely, maybe once a week if that).

i also think you need to find special interest groups to figure this out. they are such experts out there beyond those who have gotten degrees in the subject. this one is from a mom here. i am not sure if it would be helpful to you or not. http://heal-thyself.ning.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4375170/Infecting-patients-with-worms-could-hold-key-to-treating-asthma.html there is something to this. i swear. i dont know how. but i grew up in a part of the world where deworming kids is normal. where one deworms kids the way we deworm our animals here. and in those countries the few allergy cases are mostly related to industrial pollution, not necessarily stuff like grasses and pollens.