Food that you have given up

[mattiejo]

I was kind of confused as to which alternative thread to post this in so I am posting it in both.

Hi everyone. I have been doing acupuncture and herbs for a few weeks now and next I will be trying to follow the dietary advice that was given to me. I would really love to find out what foods, if any, that you have given up for this journey of IF. I am definately going to give up caffeine and sugar and hopefully dairy. It is really hard though. Maybe eventually I will give up wheat but that will be tricky. What foods have you given up and what are some of the alternatives have you found for the foods you gave up? How have you coped? Thanks in advance. Looking forward to getting some good ideas from you all.

[BC-mtroth]

I'm following The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis. According to my TCM pattern I need to avoid wheat, dairy, sugar, and meat (except fish). I also try to eat as organic as possible. Surprisingly, it's not that difficult! I eat rice pasta, rice milk, and all kinds of different cereals that don't have wheat in them.

The only thing I haven't found a good replacement for is bread (unless I bake it at home from a gluten-free mix). Meat wasn't difficult to give up....I DO have goat's milk dairy on occasion. But, I'm also not uber strict on this. Randine recommends the 80/20 rule. It's working for me!

I wish you much luck in your nutrition adventure. :-)

[madame maman]

I've given up sugar. I use honey and molasses instead. I may use some sugar in a recipe but compared to how much i used eat; i'd definitely say I've given it up. No jam, little to no syrup, I don't miss it. I eat little to no white flour and bread. And if I do I eat them with more complex carbs. I read somewhere that if you combine them the simple get processed like complex carbs. I don't give up meat because of the blood protein and bone marrow. But I make sure to eat my proteins with rice and/or leafy greens. I find i have to eat fresh, cook or dine out to avoid sugar, hydrogenated fats, and wheat flour although I've noticed an increase in use of barley flour in packaged 'natural' snacks. I cook with barley flour. I eat whole grain wheat if I eat wheat like bulgur which has more fiber than rice. Beer and wine I drank whenever I felt like but now I have maybe 2 beers or 2 glasses in a month. Alcohol is the hardest to avoid. Everyone wants to go have a beer and socialize. I stopped coffee. Luckily, I'm an easy-riser and I drink San Francisco Herb & Natural teas: BrightEye and Good Morning are my favs. Very delicious! I have cut back on hydrogenated fats but.....I could do more. Oh yeah, I've secretly given up cheese. my dh is swiss I could never let him know that. I've cut back on dairy 'til now. I've heard that some whole fat milk can be good for you. I believe it has some fertile benefits considering the cow (Bat, Hathor and many others) represents nature, life, fertility in egypt.

[BC-mtroth]

Ah yes madame, sugar and coffee have proven VERY difficult for me to give up. Alcohol I can take or leave (although, I've been taking more than usual lately) I have found that a strict adherence to any diet has a detrimental effect on my psyche, so I can't cut out anything completely. There's definitely a fine line. Whatever works for any of us to get us pregnant, right???!!!

[waiting4sam]

I have recently started a new diet that is pretty extreme however having Endo- my first dylde through and I had no pain! I mean none! so if this diet works that well for pain -which has put me in the hospital several times- I am hoping that it works for IF as well- I started on this diet to treat my IF. Basically I call this doctor- she is a natual doctor- so the herbs may not be excatly the same as TCM but this is really close- I have gone exclusive TCM before as well- but I gave up: Bread, all grains- rice, wheat, pasta, etc..., as much sugar as I can, softdrinks, coffee, yogart with fruit pre-mixed in, icecream, milk, grapes, oranges, pinnapple, apples, potatoes, corn only once a week, baked beans only once a week. this was really hard but it has seemed to work- there were also lots of herbs that I had to take my Doc calls them neuitrents- but it has worked so far..... if anyone is interested I can give you her name and number..... she works everywhere in the world- by calling you and tapping into your energy- I know this sounds crazy.... but really I have not been pain free for almost 16 years and with all the other medicine that I have taken this has been the only thing that has worked....

[lila]

I have given up coffee, all meat except fish, soy. I eat a lot of spinach and brocolli. I eat whole wheat bread with no high fructose corn syrup, wheat pasta, veggies, and I try to have a glass of organic 2% milk everyday. I have a 1/2 cup of decaf coffee and water to drink. That's pretty much it. Sounds boring but if it works I'll do it.

[BC-mtroth]

Waiting4Sam: The woman that you work with sounds totally interesting. Does she have a website you can share?