To assist in the restoration of normal flora in the body, avoidance of certain foods for a period of time is essential. These include all sweetening, juice, dried fruit, vinegar, alcohol, fermented soy products (miso, tempeh, soy sauce), cheese, kombucha, and yeast, plus your own sensitivities that the doctor found during the exam. These pages have some ideas you can tailor to meet your specific needs.
Grains, Yeast Free:
Think whole grains: Millet, teff, quinoa, rice, buckwheat, etc.
Pasta: Look for the whole grain variety, gluten free if you are gliadin sensitive.
Tortilla or Burrito Shells: READ LABELS (some may contain vinegar). See recipe for yeast free pita.
Muffins or Biscuits: Homemade or READ LABELS. If using a leavening try baking soda or a non-aluminum baking powder such as Rumford w/out aluminum. See recipes.
Waffles or Pancakes: Homemade or READ LABELS
Sourdough Breads: May be acceptable. Check labels and avoid ones with added yeast or sweetening. We think some of the best are from simple kneads bakery and can be ordered online.
READ LABELS
Corn Tortillas: Read ingredients as some have hydrogenated fats and preservatives.
Puffed Cereals: This is a nice variety of grains (corn, millet, rice, quinoa, etc) that can be found in natural food stores and used as a breakfast cereal.
Corn or Casava Chips: Try the baked varieties and make sure they have no yeast (torula, nutritional, etc.). Stay away from hydrogenated oils in the fried varieties. You can also brush corn tortillas with salt water, cut and bake at 300 degrees till crisp. READ LABELS
SWEETENING FREE SUBSTITUTES:
Fresh fruit: We do not limit fresh fruit. For a frozen treat, freeze any good ripe fruit or buy unsweetened berries or other fruit in the frozen food section. Put a small amount of ripe juicy fruit into the blender (oranges, peaches, papaya, etc.) and blend till smooth. Then add small pieces of frozen fruit, keeping blender on high till it is thick. Serve with a spoon or straw. A bit of fresh mint blended into drink can be refreshing. You can also pour this mix into popsicle molds and freeze.
Substitutes: Cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, carob powder, cinnamon, bananas, apples and other fruits can be used to help sweeten muffins, biscuits, and some sauces.
Toppings for Biscuits, Waffles or Cereal: Mashed banana, plain or with another fruit like strawberries makes a good sauce. Unsweetened applesauce, plain or with other fruit added, is a nice spread on sourdough bread, pancakes or waffles. Try blended banana and water for a creamy ‘milk’ over unsweetened cereal or add some cashews or other nuts to add protein and fat.
Meats: Many meats are cured or processed with sugar. Buy unprocessed local, grass fed, meats and cook from scratch. READ LABELS
Milks: If you are not sensitive to regular milk it may be used, also unsweetened soy, rice and other plant based milks. Read labels.
FERMENTED FOOD ALTERNATIVES:
Lemon Juice: replacement for vinegar
Bragg’s Liquid Amino: a non-fermented sauce made entirely from soy beans to replace soy sauce which is fermented.
Sauerkraut: an allowable food if not allergic to cabbage and salt. READ LABEL to make sure there is no added vinegar. If you have a histamine problem, it should be avoided.
Pickles: Bubbies, Hebrew National, and several other varieties which are genuine kosher are vinegar free, in a salt brine.
HELPS
- Think whole foods
- Think simple
- Sit down and write out a 4-6 day meal plan.
- READ LABELS: try and make things from scratch
- Drink lots of water. Grapefruit, tomato, most vegetable juices, and lemon juice are allowed if not sensitive.
- Get outside for a walk.
- Get enough rest: You are detoxing and your body is working overtime.
SUGAR……..all to be avoided. These include:
Sucrose: Usually in a crystalline form, from cane and beets. Double sugar composed of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose.
Raw sugar: A course, granulated solid obtained from evaporation of sugarcane juice. Raw sugar is approximately 96-98% sucrose covered by a thin film of molasses. FDA regulations prohibit the sale of ‘true’ raw sugar unless impurities are removed. SUCANAT is a brand name now available in granulated form that has more of the vitamins and minerals remaining.
Turbinado sugar: Has gone through some refining process that removes most of the molasses.
Brown sugar: Sugar crystals in a molasses syrup with natural flavor and color though some refiners make brown sugar by simply adding syrup to white sugar. 91-96% sucrose.
Evaporated cane juice
Total invert sugar: An equal mixture of glucose and fructose.
Honey: An invert sugar formed by an enzyme from nectar gathered by bees.
Corn syrups: Corn syrup, particularly high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is cheap to produce. Contains a good deal of “free” or unbound fructose.
Fructose: Also known as levulose. A commercial sugar, sweeter than sucrose. Found in fruits and honey.
Dextrose: Also known as glucose or corn sugar. Made commercially from starch by the action of heat and acids or enzymes. Often sold blended with regular sugar.
Lactose: Also known as milk sugar. This is usually found in homeopathic pills.
Sorbitol, Mannitol, Maltitol, Xylitol, Erythritol: Sugar alcohols derived from sugar molecules. Though they may be used in place of sugar by most people on a low-carbohydrate diet or who have diabetes, it is best to avoid at this time as they may act as “trigger foods,” causing sugar cravings or binges. Over-consumption may produce a laxative effect. For more information see: http://www.ific.org/publications/factsheets/sugaralcoholfs.cfm
Maple Syrup: Boiled-down sap of maple trees. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.
Molasses: Made from 100% pure, natural sugarcane juices, clarified, reduced, and blended.
Barley Malt: Derived from a natural process that sprouts and then heats and dries barley.
Maltose: Sprouted grains and cooked rice, heated and fermented until starch turns to sugar.
Date Sugar: Made from dehydrated ground dates. Does not dissolve well in liquids.
Agave, Yakon syrup, etc.
Fruit Juice Concentrates: Made from the juice of fruit that has been reduced about one quarter by slow cooking.
Stevia: is allowable on anti-fungus diets.