Success without drugs!! It's all in the food!

[milkmaid]

Reddan, why is scotch different? Also is it gluten free? Thanks, Jen

ummm.... what can I say, but "copy, paste". put this into a word doc to sort through everything.

Found this (http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/re ... ylates.cfm):
---
AMINES come from protein breakdown or fermentation. Large amounts are present in cheese, chocolate, wines, beer, yeast extracts and fish products.

SALICYLATES are a family of plant chemicals found naturally in many fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices, jams, honey, yeast extracts, tea and coffee, juices, beer and wines.

---

AH-HA! Yes, I can attest that wine and beer are problems and Amines/Salicylates are likely to be the problem. I couldn't figure out exactly why before, but the fermentation process itself produces the amines. Interesting. With beer, you ferment it in a vat, drain the yeast, pour into a keg or bottle and serve. But with alcohol there is a final step, DISTILLATION!

The distillation process boils the mash, vaporizes the alcohol and then recondenses it WHERE IT IS COMPLETELY DISTINCT FROM THE MASH IT CAME FROM!!! This is why Scotch doesn't cause probelms for me and probably why vodka/gin don't give you problems.

---------

Step #1: -Milling--In the milling step, the grain is ground into a coarse grain meal. The milling process breaks down the protective hull covering the grain kernels and frees the grain starch. At the end of this step, the process results in GRAIN STARCH.

Step #2: -Mashing--In the mashing step, the grain starch is converted to grain sugar. The grain meal is mixed with pure water and cooked. This produces a mash. Barley malt, which is barley that has been allowed to sprout, is added to the mash. At the end of this step, the process results in GRAIN SUGAR.

Step #3: -Fermenting--In the fermenting step, the grain sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the addition of yeast. With the addition of yeast to the grain sugar, the yeast multiplies producing carbon dioxide which bubbles away and a mixture of alcohol, grain particles and congeners. The congeners are the flavor constituents. This process results in GRAIN ALCOHOL.

Step #4: -Distilling--In the distilling step, the alcohol, grain particles,water and congeners are heated. Since alcohol boils before water, the alcohol will vaporize first leaving the water, the grain particles and some of the congeners in the boiling vessel. The vaporized alcohol is then cooled or condensed forming clear drops of beverage alcohol--distilled spirits. At the end of this step, the process results in BEVERAGE ALCOHOL which is also known as DISTILLED SPIRITS.

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Also, compounding the problem is that my reaction to beer takes 3-4 days to develop, so its easy when with friends to say "sure, I'll have a beer" and with no reaction the next day, you think, "well it is Saturday, and nothing happened yesterday when I had one". Then on Monday ... ahhhh!!!


Ok, now to figure out what I can/can't eat. I need a list and a shopping trip. so much more to learn.

[CrabbyCathy]

Glad to know that!
Congratulations.
Have a nice day.

Hello there!

I can't tell from your posts if you have rosacea.....we'd love to hear from you!

[Aurelia]

Probably not, since our filipino pal slipped back to insert signature spam.

[Monamiga]

HI! I am new here - and have been lurking through the HUGE amount of posts on this board! Phew! I wanted to jump in several times, but this thread really got to me, and I feel the need to revitalize it. Firstly, I have had rosacea, with p and p for about two years. Before that, I would notice flushing when I would drink wine, but that was it, and I never connected it to anything. About 3 years ago, I contracted Mono - which became a chronic viral infection. I was wiped out. I had myriad symptoms, the worst of which was anxiety. I'm not a pharmaceutical type person, so I started treating my anxiety with herbs and supplements, and slowly got it under control... however... then the physical symptoms set in. The rosacea started, and the gastro-intestinal distress. I'll spare you the LONG story, but I've been tested by my naturopath for all intestinal issues, have had several types of food allergy testing, and have been tested for quite a few other things as well. Even though I never treated it, I always thought that the rosacea was a symptom of something greater going on.

This thread speaks to me in a couple of ways. First, my rosacea never improved no matter what I did (admittedly I was a little ignorant about treatments since I was dealing with some pretty bad GI stuff), until one week, I went camping and took a new sunscreen (Full of zinc). At the end of 4 days, I got in my car to drive home and was SHOCKED at what I saw! Almost perfectly clear skin! I summed it up to relaxation and whatever "diet" I was trying at the time. The Rosacea came back, of course, but I eventually figured out that natural sunscreens with high zinc content could control it, and I developed a habit of applying it before bed. It has been the one thing that I have used to treat it for these years. It maintains things, but does not cure me. It is also interesting to note that I did at one point have a hair test to analyze nutrient and heavy metals in my body. It showed HIGH zinc! However, my brilliant naturopath also noticed that I had relatively high cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) and she told me that cadmium binds to the sites where zinc usually goes to be absorbed, and is stored there. Thus, the cadmium, which your body cannot get rid of on it's own is locked into the places where your zinc should go, and so the zinc is considered excess and is excreted. I found that fascinating. Also - just good to be aware that because a test shows "high levels of zinc" that doesn't mean your body is using it correctly...

I've always thought there was a zinc connection to healing the rosacea since it helped so much topically - but Megan's experience has truly inspired me. Additionally, the diet she proposes is one in a looooooooong list of diets I've slowly been working my way through to try to figure out what is going on within me. None of the tests have yielded any real clues. The fact that she is in remission and can now eat whatever she wants is SO INSPIRING to me!!! I presently had given up on "diets' as a cure, because I was so frustrated with trying them all with no result, and to be honest, I think many of the elimination diets were leaving me malnourished. Since I've been eating whatever I want, a lot of my symptoms have gone away and the rosacea is definitely worse.

I feel, like so many others, that I have been searching in vain for answers. This is the first time I've found someone who so thoroughly seems to have been cured, and as so many elements within her "cure" resonate with my personal experience, I have to admit, I am so EXCITED to try this!

I'm looking forward to posting some results here, and hope that reviving this thread might bring it to light for others.
Thank you to everyone for all of your posts. I've been reading them all for some time - but my "gut" tells me that this was the one I was looking for! (At least for now! hee hee)

AMI

[Mike T]

Welcome from behind the shadows AMI ,

Look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Goodluck.

Mike

[Monamiga]

Thanks, Mike!
I have been working on this all night and this morning. What I have found is interesting, because if you look at Megan's food list, many of the foods she listed as OK are actually high, or very high in either salicylate, amine, or glutamate. I find it interesting because she was still able to heal. That just shows you how different we all are. Also, it might indicate how helpful the zinc is.
Anyhow, as far as I could tell, there wasn't a comprehensive list out there that laid out all the foods to avoid, and all the foods that were known to be within low, non-reactive levels (of course even minute levels could cause SOME people to react!) Anyhow, I am presently compiling a list, and would love to share it with anyone interested.
With the complete list, it looks like it could be a pretty restrictive diet for most people. As for me, I've been on some seriously strict diets in the recent past, including sugar/grain/dairy/egg free.... so being able to eat those things on this particular diet is a bonus for me. I'm also curious to see how my GI stuff reacts or changes.

[Richb3]

Hi all, I was trying to follow Megans elimination diet for about a year, with some success. However I could never follow it strictly enough, and the annoying red rash on my forehead, goopy eyes and oily pores never went away. Last spring I got really bad hayfever and a friend reccomended eating local honey to combat the hayfever. I tracked down a local woman who makes unheated, untreated honey. Im not sure what type it is but is quite liquid and an orange colour. It didnt really help with the hayfever but it has been a virtual cure for my rosacea. I can now eat all foods except Beer and Wine, MSG, black tea, processed meats and I avoid eating too much sugar, polyunsaturated oils and junk food. For alcoholic drinks I drink cider mostly, pear or apple doesnt seem to make much difference.
Now I have no more rash, my eyes are mostly clear of goop and not getting infected any more, and I dont have dandruff. My pores are still a little oily but I can live with that.
I believe rosacea is caused by a lack of raw foods in the modern diet, leading to unbalanced stomach flora. For more info about this subject and food in general http://www.westonaprice.org/ has lots of excellent information.
As a point of interest, I tried eating cocanut oil just before I started on the honey, after I read about the benifits of coconut oil in several places including http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/successstories.htm. I was heavily reactive to it, getting the worst rash on my forehead Ive ever had. Once I stopped on the coconut my face calmed right down. There is a small chance the coconut oil, despite giving me a rash, actually helped my skin. Because I started on the honey at almost the same time, I cant be completely sure it was the honey. If I run out of the honey and stop eating it my skin seems to deteriorate tho so Im going with the honey. Some people on the coconut research website say it has helped their rosacea so it might be worth a shot.
Hope that helps.

[Monamiga]

Richb3 - thank you so much for the update. I have been looking around the internet to find other stories of people who used this diet to heal - without much luck!

The one thing that keeps coming to me, over and over, as I read through people's different cures, is that the body truly is a miraculous organism. Also, the mind-body connection is profound, and the placebo effect is a strong phenomena. I think that all of these things come into play when we are trying to heal ourselves!

As I researched this diet more, I personally feel that it is exceedingly restrictive. Actually, Megan's original list contains quite a few "offending" foods if you were to truly eliminate the amines, salycilates, and glutamates. Additionally, in my opinion, many of the foods restricted are known to be quite healthy! Just take blueberries and broccoli for example!

Personally, I am still quite interested in this approach, and am glad I looked into it - but have decided not to pursue it totally at this time. I agree with Richb3 (in that for me), the rosacea is connected to my digestion and possibly food. I am looking into trying out an elimination diet and also purchased the liquid zinc to give that a solid try on it's own before mixing it with other potential cures!

[shellylee]

I just ordered the liquid zinc and am going to give it a try.

[Peacock]

Monamiga, I feel the exact same way you do . I have read Megan's post here and on Facebook a dozen times.I have so many similarities with Megan that I feel I owe it to myself to at least begin to give the food restrictions a try. I have always noticed a food reaction in my face when I eat the wrong foods ...then 3-4 days later it would begin to clear up. Over the last few weeks this is what I have discovered about me:

*I have been working thru her list slowly--marathon as opposed to sprint to perfection. Both David and Cathy (moderators) have suggested to me to go easy on the food. To let the medications work and then maybe food will not be an issue, so I am pursuing the list but not going crazy,

*Trace Minerals Ionic Zinc (50 mg) has a nice side effect , it enhances the ability to fall asleep. Too early to tell if it working on my face...I take with water before bed. Very nice relaxer.

*Flare up foods (noticeable-just discovered-confirmed): Broccoli, Ketchup, Canned Tuna (I used to eat a ton of these three !)

*Not sure yet, experimenting: Coffee with 3/4 cup no fat organic milk...I am trying to find non dairy creamer ??? (i dont think coffee is problem ?)

*Cutting way back on: all dairy (except above mentioned w/coffee), cut all citrus fruits (lots of pears), added in a ton of acceptable veggies, etc...,
sugar---I dont drink alcohol or smoke ..the obvious cookies, cake, ice cream , etc...

One day at a time