Q: I have been successfully controlling my diabetes with a low-carb diet for more than 12 years. As you’d expect, this limits the variety of foods I can eat. About two years ago, I started having stomach pain, which persisted and gradually worsened to become debilitating. I tried eliminating various suspect foods (wheat, diary, etc.), but none of them helped. Finally, I got tested for IgG reactions, and was told that eleven foods, many of which were staples for my diabetes regimen, had produced IgG reactions. These included coffee, cacao, casein, egg whites, wheat, soy, peanuts and tomatoes.
Only by eliminating all of them (leaving little more than meat and non-starchy veggies), I finally am getting relief.
My question is: What might I do for this by way of supplements and/or meds to help, and should I hope to be able to reintroduce these foods eventually?
A: Barring any other pathology related to your stomach pain, and as evidenced by the success of the food allergy elimination in abating your symptoms, you are on the right track to resolving this altogether.
Interestingly, some of foods you tested positive for are on the list of the top eight food allergens, specifically, eggs, wheat, casein (dairy), soy, and peanuts.
The good news about the IgG list of foods is that eliminating them for a period of time (typically 3-6 months) gives your immune system a chance to calm down, so that you may gradually reintroduce many of these foods.
There is a method to proper food reintroduction:
If tomatoes, eggs, and wheat were on the list of foods to avoid, reintroduce them one at a time every three days. For example, on day one, add tomatoes to your menu (i.e., in your salad) and see how you feel. Do the same on day two. If, at the end of three days of eating tomatoes you don’t have any return of symptoms, you can safely add them back into your diet.
Move on to the next food on the list: eggs. Have an omelet or hardboiled egg on day one. If no symptoms return, have it again on day two, and then day three. If you remain symptom-free, eggs are back on your list of permitted foods to enjoy. The same reintroduction schedule goes for wheat, and so on. Do the same with the other foods and beverages you’ve been avoiding like dairy, coffee, peanuts, etc. With dairy, though, break it out into sheep, goat, and cow dairy and reintroduce those separately. For example, you may be able to tolerate sheep’s feta cheese and not dairy from cows.
Introducing one food every three days in this manner allows you to identify any offending foods that you may still need to continue avoiding.
A qualified nutritionist can not only help guide you in choosing appropriate supplements to help weed, seed, and restore your gut microbiome, soothe any residual symptoms, and assess your overall nutrition status, but provide Medical Nutrition Therapy to help cure type 2 diabetes, not just control it.
To your health!
Leyla Muedin, MS, RD, CDN
