I kept a food diary for a week. I recorded everything I ate, what time I ate it and then logged how I felt during the day.

I know that gluten intolerance and dairy intolerance seem to go hand in hand. that is why I'm suspecting dairy as the source of my problems now.

Last night I went to the store and bought some coconut milk and plan on being totally dairy free and coffee free today. Coffee does give me problems sometimes.

I do seem to be losing weight right now so go figure.

Good stuff Jann! I think these intolerance issues also make it harder to lose weight.

Wayward, those red bumps might have been something called DH which is definitely gluten related! You can get those biopsied and get a celiac diagnosis that way too. By the way, I looked at your gallery and I'm thinking bloat.

You might also want to check out the SCD diet. It is pretty tough though. BAsically that is how I started, but without any dairy. I also had a gluten/casein panel done with Enterolab (enterolab.com) and they found genetic links to wheat intolerance and the antibodies to milk and wheat in my stool sample.

Hey Nancy - I read up on the SCD, tough for sure! When TOM is gone I'm going to do that or something similar, anyway. I've had milk and cottage cheese today, BTW, and so far have been okay. I checked out your journal, and I think you mentioned a genetic gluten thing with Irish folk - that's my Dad's side! So I do wonder. Dad's parents were from N. Ireland, Mum is English - hence my love for tea and potatoes.

The rash became a problem when I went away to University in the mid-90's and was living on the dorm food plan - me and another girl broke out in full-body rashes and little water blisters. Awful. Doctors had no idea what it was (one said scabies! Another - stress exema!) Red bumps all over, and I mean ALL over. Nothing helped. Once I came back it went away, with flare-ups every so often. Even now I will suddenly break out in red itchy bumps on my lower arms. Come to think of it - it hasn't happened since I started LCing.

JAnn - good luck! I've been using coconut milk in my tea, and have really come to like it! Might just stick to it, since the only thing I ever use milk for is tea. Don't eat cereal anymore BTW, what were your gluten symptoms?

If I followed basically a paleo diet (meat, veg, egg), that would be a good start I think? This is so new to me. I always said I had an iron gut and could stomach anything (I will try pretty much anything) - guess not. Oh well.

Headaches, stomach swelling, Stomach burning, falling asleep on the job and probably part of my problem with eczema.

Yeah, that's pretty much what SCD boils down to anyway.

I always thought I had an iron constitution too, but I was overlooking things like the IBS which had been plaguing me for years. One nice side effect that your spouse or loved ones will like is that SCD reduces gas to virtually nothing.

Boy, give me some milk products or grains is like giving a balloon helium.

I had about a 6 week course of off-diet where I was eating potato chips and cheetos (no wheat at least). Last week I tried some goat milk because some people insist goat milk is different from cow milk. Bzzzzt! Not to my body. Anyway, I cleaned up my diet and have been doing much better. Still recovring from the goat milk yogurt though. Then I had some raw almond and my GI tract reacted badly. Still recovering from that.

I've been making meringues from egg whites and splenda and Erythritol and lemon curd from the yolks, lemons and splenda. That keeps me sane.

I think corn is pretty bad for me too. At least, ground corn products. I might be ok with sweet corn, haven't tried it lately and still trying to recover from my oppsies.

Chips and Cheetos...mmmmmmmmmm. Add in some of those weird yellow Corn Twists, and you got yourself a party!

You do like your lemon curd, don't you? I am going to have to try it. I loooooove lemon stuff. Made a nice salad dressing today with lemon and honey.

So what happens to you when you eat dairy/gluten etc? Gas has totally cleared up for me since LCing and not eating grains. Normally around TOM I'd be a factory, but not anymore! In fact, it's gotten so good that when I do...ummm...have a flatulent moment, I actually notice bc it's so uncommon now! So why is my tummy so huge...?

My sister is having the same thing, and apparently has been for years also. I'm seeing my Mum Saturday, and am going to ask her about it too. She mentioned to me before that she went LC for a cleanse or something, and was much less bloated. Do you have others in your family who have sensitivities?

Have any of you ever tried Oil of Oregano? Thoughts? How about probiotics?

I'm so glad there are ppl here I can talk to about this - it's really frustrating. I'm ging to forward some info to my friend with Crohn's too - she spent half her childhood on antibiotics, and always has a yeast infection.

I've been reading NancyLC's journey in exploring food intolerances for the past three years so I view her comments as an expert. So I decided that since she is on the SCD diet I would look into it and I have to say that I am pretty excited about it.

I thought giving up cream and changing from Atkin's to anything else would be hard but after one day of no dairy and strictly SCD Nancy's way I already feel better. The burping is quite a bit less, I am clearer headed and feel not exactly energetic but capable of facing the day.

I also have been looking at SCD recipes and they are doable. One word of caution, I went on the America's Test Kitchen and they said that some coconut milks are made with water and others with milk. Read the ingredients. I am also going to look for a recipe for making coconut milk and coconut cream.

Yes, there are so few treats I have left to eat that having this one keeps me pretty darned happy! I have also made other flavors. I suppose I shouldn't call it curd, it is more like pudding or a stirred custard.

Well, I think my autoimmune diseases were caused by this. I've had thyroid and now an autoimmune arthritis. Not to mention my IBS (horrible intestinal cramping), gas and brain fog and a bit of memory loss. The brain fog and memory loss is now gone as is the IBS. The arthritis is controlled as long as my diet is good (so far). Thyroid was nuked ages ago. :\

My family has a long, long list of conditions associated with gluten sensitivity but they're not interested in hearing about it. I have two genes, one associated with the neurological effects of gluten sensitivity.

I've never really bought into the Candidasis theory. Probiotics I keep meaning to take, but they're in the fridge and I never remember. My autoimmune meds is a sort of antibiotic, so I really should be hitting the probiotics.

At one time I thought my issues were adrenal and thyroid related, but turns out they're all food intolerances. It is amazing how many ways it can affect you.

Here's a good forum for food intolerances. Really smart people here: http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums...splay.php?f=141

I've never seen coconut milk with milk in it! I try to buy the kind that doesn't have any preservatives, especially for making the yogurt. Otherwise I'm afraid the yogurt won't culture.

BTW: If you have any oriental markets, you can buy coconut milk really cheap there.

I'm trying to think how long it took for my belly to go down... a few weeks I think. And of course, when I'm bad it swells again takes another couple of weeks to go back down.

JAnn, for coconut milk I've been getting Thai Kitchen, just CM and guar gum as a thickener. Really nice mouth-feel. Don't know if it would work for yogurt making though - haven't tried that yet. But if you put some in the fridge for a while, it really thickens up and you can eat it like a pudding - wonderful, and feels very decadent! Goes almost like heavy whipped cream.

Thanks for the link Nancy. There's a part of my brain that says to me: 'you're just fat and trying to find excuses, you don't have any problems other than FAT'. Yeah, healthy I know. I'll check out that forum. Monday I am going to start SCD as well...I am going to need support! So JAnn, let's stick it out together!

A few weeks for the belly - okay, I am impatient! I'll quit fretting, do what I need to do to see what, if anything, is going on, and the belly will go down when it goes down. If it goes down.

Actually - it's down somewhat today after eating high-carb (just over 100g) yesterday (I have free meal Fridays - soon to be over, of course). Curious.

Something that made me sit up and take notice - reading the FAQ on enterolab.com about gluten intolerance and they list ppl who have risk factors and should for sure be tested: mothers of kids with neural tube defects (I am the only child of 3 my mum had who doesn't have a neural tube defect), ppl with seizure disorders (mum gets occasional seizures).

I feel like I'm putting a puzzle together, but don't know what it's going to look like when it's done! Interesting stuff.

I had some Thai Kitchen and it was good. In our store in our town it runs $2.39 a can so I need to check around. I also searched the net for recipes to make my own and will probably try that.

Yesterday I made a custard justing using the milk, eggs and liquid splenda. Reminded me somewhat of flan and I liked it.

I'm actually down about 2 lbs the last 2 days so that's nice. Someone else to share support with would be great. Welcome aboard.

I believe that its the coconut cream that has the milk in it. They says it's much richer.

I don't even have the guy's book in hand yet, and I'm already sold. After struggling literally for years to lose "the last 5 pounds" they have started falling off. I have been religiously avoiding lactose, wheat, and refined sugar for a few weeks now and I sailed past my goal weight this week. The lactose was the biggest change--I have been pretty good about wheat and sugar (off and on) ever since I begin reducing overall carbs a couple of years ago, but I never considered lactose intolerance as an issue before.

It's coming off so fast that it almost has to be water (or mostly water), but that much water was making me uncomfortable and I'm happy to lose it. No one will ever convince me that I have a pasta-deficient diet!! I do supplement potassium, however, since it can go too low when you body dumps excess water all at once. But I just had my early physical, and my blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. were all good. Only the sodium level was low, so my Dr. told me to feel free to use as much salt as I wanted.

I would recommend investigating food sensitivities to anyone who is struggling to get past a stall or lose the last few lbs.

Ah ha! That stuff all clicked on for me like that too. It described my family to a tee. Someone that used to post here, thinking her problems were related to thyroid issues found out she was gluten intolerant and she got me to looking into it. It was so easy for me to see after being gluten free for 2 days and having my bowels stop cramping. But the dairy thing was a shocker...

Nelson, after months on gluten/dairy free I started drifting down in my weight too without changing anything. But since my carb oppsies I've started bloating and gaining again. Dang me!

Well I feel really down right now. I bout some coconut milk at Wally World today, Imperial Dragon, and it's just a bunch of fake stuff. I would like to have some tea with coconut milk but I certainly don't want that stuff!!