I have been on a quest to get to race weight by Ironman and to eat healthy, not bonk, and maintain my blood sugar at a healthy level. I've worked with a registered dietitian on sport/race nutrition for years and then on weight loss that is sustainable and possible while training. Last year, my dietitian recommended food sensitivity testing. I passed on it at first but I recently had the tests completed. I'll post an update after I've had time to assess how it has worked for me.
My regular sport dietitian doesn't do the testing, so I reached out to another well-known local sport dietitian who is also a two-time Olympics Trials Qualifier in the marathon, has published a book, and is opening a restaurant and bar with her husband. At first the conversation wasn't about testing, it was about reaching race weight in a sustainable manner while training at a pretty high volume. After I completed her intake questionnaire, she said that she recommended the mediator release testing. I sucked it up and had it done. The blood draw is done in a lab and the lab I went to charged $40 for the draw. The blood is shipped to a diagnostics company in Florida, and the results are mailed to you and your dietitian. The testing cost is $299. Since I had the blood drawn right before Christmas, it was early January before I got the results back. The report is very thorough and comes with an immunocalm diet to get started that has several phases. A sample of the test report is available.
After a consultation with the dietitian (two sessions are $220 with this dietitian), she sent me a revised version of the immunocalm diet because of my activity level and wanting to make sure that there were enough things I could eat.
Even so, I had to change my foods pretty significantly. I recorded everything in cronometer.com so that we could track my weight, blood glucose, supplements, food, and exercise and notice patterns. I suck at food logging, so doing this has been hard for me, but the dietitian knows that and is providing a ton of positive support and reinforcement. I was very cautious with the diet and only added one new food (from the approved list) to my diet per day. That way I could better assess changes.
I thought I was eating a healthy diet of healthy foods, but it turns out that some of those are reactive for me. I had taken most wheat out of my diet about nine months ago because I noticed that it caused weight fluctuations. What I didn't realize is that I am just as reactive to corn as I am to wheat. Corn is in frikking everything. Especially all of the sport nutrition products I was using. I also knew that I had a problem with dairy and had limited my dairy, but was still using coffee creamer and yogurt. All of that has been gone under this diet. I have learned that I like black coffee a lot more than coffee with goat milk, and that buckwheat groats with blueberries is a great breakfast.
Here's my list of reactive foods (red and yellow - I only have one highly reactive, or red, food):
While I don't drink cola anymore and others are things I rarely eat, some foods like avocado and turkey were regular parts of my diet. Same with raspberry and orange. My favorite flavor sport nutrition (which also had corn) were vanilla, ginger, and watermelon. Oops.
For the past two weeks I have been careful with what I eat and recording EVERYTHING. I have lost about five pounds. I really only miss coffee creamer and Greek yogurt, but I have noticed that I am a lot less snotty (especially in the pool). I have stopped taking both of my allergy nasal sprays. One of the things the dietitian is a bot concerned about is that there is corn in some of my other medicines, but we can't get rid of some of them, so we deal with it.
I have not felt hungry or deprived. I have not felt like I have significantly lower energy than I would have based on my normal life anyway. I have switched nutrition to huma gel (which has cane juice and I am somewhat reactive to) or Honey Stinger Gold gel. I am getting used to using gel again, which I hadn't used in years because of texture issues.
After the first two weeks there are more foods I am adding in and I have started on a probiotic. I will be starting on Iron supplements soon as well since the data from Cronometer suggests that my diet doesn't have enough. I am also trying to take my Vitamin D a few hours separated from my other medications to help with absorption.
The biggest challenge (aside from the pain in the ass logging) has been bringing my lunch to work and bringing food to the conferences I had this week because the catering services can't really accommodate my diet, since it isn't just gluten-free/dairy-free, it is customized to my food sensitivities. I have been able to eat out a few times - at a breakfast place I had poached eggs and blueberries with coffee. At the cafe in the office I can hit the salad bar and assemble a salad that doesn't have anything off limits.
I have learned that buckwheat groats are tasty and are much more affordable in bulk at Whole Foods than in the small, pre-packaged bags. Frozen unsweetened blueberries are a godsend, but in large quantities make your poop green. Coffee is my friend. Sweet potatoes are more versatile than I ever imagined. Lentils are tasty and very nutritionally dense. Banana flour is a thing. Peanut butter with no other ingredients is a pain in the ass because it separates and needs to be stirred, which is messy and gloppy. Goat milk tastes like you are drinking from the goat in a barn and the goat is wearing a wet wool blanket.
Stay tuned for the second phase.
My regular sport dietitian doesn't do the testing, so I reached out to another well-known local sport dietitian who is also a two-time Olympics Trials Qualifier in the marathon, has published a book, and is opening a restaurant and bar with her husband. At first the conversation wasn't about testing, it was about reaching race weight in a sustainable manner while training at a pretty high volume. After I completed her intake questionnaire, she said that she recommended the mediator release testing. I sucked it up and had it done. The blood draw is done in a lab and the lab I went to charged $40 for the draw. The blood is shipped to a diagnostics company in Florida, and the results are mailed to you and your dietitian. The testing cost is $299. Since I had the blood drawn right before Christmas, it was early January before I got the results back. The report is very thorough and comes with an immunocalm diet to get started that has several phases. A sample of the test report is available.
After a consultation with the dietitian (two sessions are $220 with this dietitian), she sent me a revised version of the immunocalm diet because of my activity level and wanting to make sure that there were enough things I could eat.
Even so, I had to change my foods pretty significantly. I recorded everything in cronometer.com so that we could track my weight, blood glucose, supplements, food, and exercise and notice patterns. I suck at food logging, so doing this has been hard for me, but the dietitian knows that and is providing a ton of positive support and reinforcement. I was very cautious with the diet and only added one new food (from the approved list) to my diet per day. That way I could better assess changes.
I thought I was eating a healthy diet of healthy foods, but it turns out that some of those are reactive for me. I had taken most wheat out of my diet about nine months ago because I noticed that it caused weight fluctuations. What I didn't realize is that I am just as reactive to corn as I am to wheat. Corn is in frikking everything. Especially all of the sport nutrition products I was using. I also knew that I had a problem with dairy and had limited my dairy, but was still using coffee creamer and yogurt. All of that has been gone under this diet. I have learned that I like black coffee a lot more than coffee with goat milk, and that buckwheat groats with blueberries is a great breakfast.
Here's my list of reactive foods (red and yellow - I only have one highly reactive, or red, food):
- Asparagus (red)
- Avocado
- Black pepper
- Cane sugar
- Cantaloupe
- Catfish
- Cola
- Corn
- Cottage cheese
- Cow's milk
- Ginger
- Lecithin
- MSG
- Orange
- Peach
- Pecan
- Pinto beans
- Raspberry
- Salicilic acid
- Scallop
- Sulfite
- Soybean
- Turkey
- Vanilla
- Watermelon
- Wheat
While I don't drink cola anymore and others are things I rarely eat, some foods like avocado and turkey were regular parts of my diet. Same with raspberry and orange. My favorite flavor sport nutrition (which also had corn) were vanilla, ginger, and watermelon. Oops.
For the past two weeks I have been careful with what I eat and recording EVERYTHING. I have lost about five pounds. I really only miss coffee creamer and Greek yogurt, but I have noticed that I am a lot less snotty (especially in the pool). I have stopped taking both of my allergy nasal sprays. One of the things the dietitian is a bot concerned about is that there is corn in some of my other medicines, but we can't get rid of some of them, so we deal with it.
I have not felt hungry or deprived. I have not felt like I have significantly lower energy than I would have based on my normal life anyway. I have switched nutrition to huma gel (which has cane juice and I am somewhat reactive to) or Honey Stinger Gold gel. I am getting used to using gel again, which I hadn't used in years because of texture issues.
After the first two weeks there are more foods I am adding in and I have started on a probiotic. I will be starting on Iron supplements soon as well since the data from Cronometer suggests that my diet doesn't have enough. I am also trying to take my Vitamin D a few hours separated from my other medications to help with absorption.
The biggest challenge (aside from the pain in the ass logging) has been bringing my lunch to work and bringing food to the conferences I had this week because the catering services can't really accommodate my diet, since it isn't just gluten-free/dairy-free, it is customized to my food sensitivities. I have been able to eat out a few times - at a breakfast place I had poached eggs and blueberries with coffee. At the cafe in the office I can hit the salad bar and assemble a salad that doesn't have anything off limits.
I have learned that buckwheat groats are tasty and are much more affordable in bulk at Whole Foods than in the small, pre-packaged bags. Frozen unsweetened blueberries are a godsend, but in large quantities make your poop green. Coffee is my friend. Sweet potatoes are more versatile than I ever imagined. Lentils are tasty and very nutritionally dense. Banana flour is a thing. Peanut butter with no other ingredients is a pain in the ass because it separates and needs to be stirred, which is messy and gloppy. Goat milk tastes like you are drinking from the goat in a barn and the goat is wearing a wet wool blanket.
Stay tuned for the second phase.
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