Lyme Disease Support Group

I was wondering how strict your Lyme diet needs to be?

I am seeing a LLMD in Canada and the only thing he told me in regards to lifetyle, suppliments and diet is to take probiotics and multivitamins and to only do what I feel up to physically.

Also, I am a vegetarian so it is difficult for me to cut out too many carbs.

I am avoiding sweets, white bread, and am only drinking water, club soda and milk.

I am wondering if I am missing some major or key guidelines regarding diet.

Thanks for any advice!

Lyme symptoms list compared with yeast symptoms

Yeast Infection, The Silent Epidemic from dentist, docdave, 8-07

http://flash.lymenet.org/scripts/ultimatebb.cgi? ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=068288#000001

CANDIDA,,,WHAT LLMDS ARE MISSING by Bugg, .7.7.08..excellent!

http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic; f=1;t=068694b

DIETS FOR LYME BY SMOKITO/AMANDA, RN 4.1.10

Start with a healthy balanced diet and go from there. No added sugars. No processed foods. Don't eat any foods you are intolerant/allergic/sensitive to (e.g. dairy if you are lactose intolerant).

Interesting facts about digestion & immune system (this may help explain the importance of diet):

1. Animal experiments with sterilization of the gut found that when beneficial bacteria living on the intestinal epithelium (lining) are removed, the cell renewal process of the intestines gets completely out of order.

This results in less cells (enterocytes) being born, and less being born healthy, resulting in abnormal cells (and the potential to become cancerous).

The microvilli degenerates and results in malabsorption, nutritional deficiencies, food intolerances, and colitis/inflammation (think of a lawn scraped by a snow plow).

2. Gut flora is essentially the housekeeper of the digestive system. Without healthy flora, the body is unable to digest food properly.

For example: Milk & Wheat protein (a problem with many Lyme patients) are digested as follows:

First in the stomach the digestive juices split the proteins into peptides. Then these peptides move into the small intestine where pancreatic juices get involved. Thirdly, at the small intestine wall, they must be broken down by enzymes on the microvilli.

In patients with damaged enterocytes, the wheat and milk proteins get absorbed into the bloodstream unchanged and cause problems in the body. (in particular, interference with brain & immune system function.)

3. It probably isn't new to you that the beneficial flora/bacteria in our GI tract perform a good chunk of digestive functions.

Lactose in particular is mostly digested by E. Coli (non-pathogenic strains). Other beneficial bacteria actively synthesizes various nutrients.

4. Essential bacteria in our GI tract engage a part of the immune system: the lymphoid tissues of the gut wall and are part of the production of large numbers of lymphocytes and immunoglobulins. (Bifid

obacteria is one good example of this.)

5. The last big important fact that I must mention is toxins & medications. Painkillers in particular stimulate growth of hemolytic (destroys blood cells) forms of bacteria & Campylobacter in the gut which are capable of causing disease. Steroids are notorious for causing Candida overgrowth (oh, the list goes on .)

Healing the gut involves the obvious step of cutting out foods and substances that are counterproductive to healing (aside from necessary medications).

These foods include: wheat, gluten, casein, grains, sugars, and starches.

Starches is one particular food type that many diets don't cut out so I will explain a bit more about why this is necessary.

Digestion of starch requires quite a bit of work for the digestive system. In healthy people some starch goes undigested due to the complex structure.

Aside from the issues of having undigested food in your gut, starch that is digested is broken up into Maltose, which is a sugar that cannot be absorbed without being split up into monosugars by the enterocytes (see where this is going). Damaged enterocyte=undigested, unabsorbed.

Now, most fruit, particularly unripe, contains a double sugar. It is very important to eat ripe fruit for this reason. The small amounts of starch and sucrose (double sugar) in fruit and non-starch vegetables are tiny compared to the grains, starchy vegetables and table sugar.

Fats are very important for healthy nerve function (in particular). Fats are very easy for the enterocytes to absorb, however if the gut flora is substandard, mucous production by the GI lining will be extreme (protective measure).

This will result in fat not being able to reach the enterocytes (for absorption) and pale, greasy stools.

When starches and table sugars are cut out of the diet for a long enough period, the mucous production normalises and absorption improves.

The last big food type that should be eliminated is:

soy

Soy impairs iodine absorption and reduces thyroid function. The processing of soy includes large amounts of aluminum. Soy beans have high concentrations of phytates which bind to minerals and block absorption.

Soy allergies are very common. And last but not least, the natural estrogens in soy, while useful for menopausal women, are not so useful for others.

This is not set in stone. It just explains why some of these foods are cut out. Not everyone needs to cut out all of these foods. Remember, the bacteria is stealing nutrients from you that you need, so you can't stop taking in those nutrients to starve the bacteria. It would starve your own cells as well.

Post edited by: smoxito, at: 04/01/2010 01:51 PM

Third one is - saturated fat, such as butter.

I would definitely stay away from milk.

Besides everything else that it does (hard for humans to digest casein, saturated fat is pro-inflammatory, I can go on and on :-p ) - the lactose that milk is full of, is sugar.

So drinking milk is not really staying away from sugar.

As I said above - I would avoid not only white bread, but all bread. Like Betty pointed out above - gluten (in wheat) is hard to digest and often crosses the gut-blood and then blood-brain barrier, were it contributes to inflammation.

Also, you being in Canada (north) and you being a vegetarian (no fish) - are you taking good vit. D supplements?

Post edited by: NDwannabe, at: 09/03/2010 08:49 PM

~~~There is a general consensus to get a superior diet in order.

~~~That is,no junk.Every one with any sense whatsoever knows what that is.

~~~This means no sugary sodas or even diet ones or any carbonated dead beverages.Pure junk!

~~~No processed sugar either.No empty calories!No white rice or white bread.Only nutriciously dense foods in a wide variety of the rainbow such as fresh sprouts,purple and green cabbage and mixed greens salads,mixed berries,etc.

~~~Mostly if not all vegetarian.Mostly if not all raw-fresh unheated vegetables and fruits are raw.More veggies than fruits.Little to no dairy.Cut out gluten if you happen to be gluten intolerant as many Lyme Patients are.

~~~Eat whole grains and brown and wild rice blends,quinoa,amaranth,buckwheat,etc.Raw nuts and seeds such as walnuts,almonds,pumpkin and sunflower seeds.Beans.

~~~Cooled down to warm(so as not to destroy living enzymes in raw honey) Green tea,red(rooibos)tea,Yerba Mate tea.Almond milk.Raw honey.

~~~Plenty of water,some with fresh lemon.

~~~Go to a healthfood store and get a sprout kit and make your own mixed sprouts at home in your kitchen.

~~~Try 2 Tablspoons brocolli,2T funugreek 10T(5oz) mung sprouting seeds in a half gallon sprouting jar.In three to five days,depending on the temperature,Winter or Summer,and poof,nutriciously dense food.They'll keep for a week in the fridge.Don't rinse on last day to keep on dry side to keep longer in fridge.Start a new batch some days before they run out to keep a constant supply.Add it to a big mixed greens salad.

~~~Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber rich seeds such as chia(whole or ground) and freshly ground flax-freshly ground flax as the omegas become unstable after some time after being ground, and flax is undigestable whole.Unheated so as not to destry vital omega fatty acids and living enzymes.

~~~Organic every thing as much as possible.

~~~No bad habbits such as smoking or alcohol,etc.You know the drill!

~~~in my straight jacket~~out on a limb~~~lookin like a cocoon~~~hangin by a thread

~~~waitin for a butterfly~~~under the moon~~~Mitchell~~~

I have been a vegetarian for 7yrs and I love fresh fruits and vegetables especially this time of year.However I try to eat even some broccoli( which I love) and take one bite and have to spit it out.

So I decided to do the unthinkable... I started to eat fish again

And of course the first night I try fish I go home and one of the goldfish is floating belly up in the tank.. Oh the guilt.

So needless to say this is a struggle. I have been drinking alot of my green juices and smoothies ect. and taking a ton of supplements.

~~~Try grinding,in a coffee grinder,some fresh whole flax seed and add it to the blender smoothie.Start with one teaspoon and see how it goes.If OK,next time try 2ts.Then 1 Tablespoon(three teas.)Then up to 2T. One Tablespoon flax = 1 teaspoon flax oil with the added fiber.

~~~This will also act as a smoothie thickener without depending on ice to do so,so you will need to adjust liquid volume for desired consistency.Very good,healthy fiber source.This will also act as a vegetarian fish substitute(omega 3s) in honor and memory of little Goldie.

~~~in my straight jacket~~out on a limb~~~lookin like a cocoon~~~hangin by a thread

~~~waitin for a butterfly~~~under the moon~~~Mitchell~~~

Huh.. Good idea but do you think it will effect the taste?

I wonder why my doctor didn't mention any of this? He is pretty much the only Lyme doctor in the province, and has mostly lyme patients.

~~~This is why it is so important to educate,arm ourselves,about this disease.

~~~In very many cases we find ourselves the more Lyme Literate ones.Herein lies much of

the controversy.

~~~The Dr is only a part of the solution.It is mostly up to you,to us.This is why this forum is so critical.This forum and all it's participants are priceless and key pieces to this puzzle.A collective Lyme Literacy.A treasure trove.

~~~Shana,

~~~Yes this addition of flax will effect the taste-for the better!

~~~in my straight jacket~~out on a limb~~~lookin like a cocoon~~~hangin by a thread

~~~waitin for a butterfly~~~under the moon~~~Mitchell~~~