I’ve recently decided to start the diet recommended in the book. I bought the book a year ago but recently decided to take action on the diet. Previously, I figured if I stayed indoors I would be okay, but it hasn’t allowed me to do anything active, and I’ve been severely out of shape and that’s not how I want to live my life.
I also get hive breakouts when I get nervous and that makes it so being indoors won’t keep me safe. I’m currently not safe from hives no matter where I go or what I do. I’ve been on the diet for almost 2 weeks now and haven’t seen results but I plan to update on this post if I do get results.
My diet is as follows:
For Breakfast: Plain Oatmeal with either strawberries, blueberries, bananas or a combination of 2 fruits. No added sugar.
For Lunch/Dinner: Plain chicken (I would do turkey but Costco doesn’t sell big bags of plain turkey breaks), minute rice, and broccoli
For hydration: Water, pure organic coconut water from Costco that’s not from concentrate.
My Questions:
Can I add seasoning to my chicken and is eating chicken instead of turkey okay?
– There are low sodium seasonings like Ms Dash but I’m not sure if seasoning in itself will ruin the diet.
Is drinking coconut water okay?
– Should I ONLY drink water
If I eat salad can I add any type of dressing?
Has anyone tried this diet, and if so, do you have any suggestions or can you tell if I’m doing anything wrong?
I really want to follow through with this diet to see if it works but it’s extremely hard when nothing I eat has flavor.
Also, if the diet doesn’t work are there any suggestions as a last resort?
I’ve also started to exercise but I’ve always had issues sweating. I’m planning to pick up a gym membership this week and I will exercise and then get in the sauna to sweat more to see if that helps.
I’ve decided to go all in on trying to cure myself but if nothing works than I’ll most likely resort to something bad but I’m REALLY hoping it doesn’t go that far.
Thanks,
SJAnalyst
Anonymous says
I haven’t tried that exact diet but I found that eating healthy, elimating sugar and exercising daily really helped me overcome it! Hope this helps 🙂
Anonymous says
Thanks for the advice and the quick reply! I’ve been running over the last few weeks. Unfortunately it’s cold and I don’t sweat a lot. I’m getting a gym membership this week. I’m going to run on the treadmill and go straight to the sauna afterwards to force myself to sweat. I also bought the sauna clothing recommended on this site to further increase my chances of sweating. I really hope it helps. It’ll be hard to do everyday since I work 8 hours and commute a total of 3 hours. I’m hoping that if I exercise and sweat 3-4 days a week it will be enough. That’s awesome you overcame UC. I’ve read that a lot of people in this for tried to diet and do sweat therapy and none of it helped. I really hope that doesn’t happen to me 🙁
Hivesguy says
Thanks for your questions. As to whether you can eat a specific food, I have no idea. Every person is different (and has different allergy issues), but the point of the diet is to eliminate most all sources of common food allergens for a few weeks to see if your hives calm down. If you can do that for 3-5 weeks (and your doctor/dietician says it’s safe for you), you’ll have your answer as to whether certain foods are linked to your hives. After that, you can add foods, seasonings, and dressings back, and if your hives become worse, you’ll know what to avoid.
The diet that I mention in the book is low allergy in the sense that it removes the major sources of allergens (fish, wheat, etc.), and it works great for me. I cannot eat oatmeal because it definitely causes my hives to become worse (and I start developing rashes if I consume a lot of it over a few weeks), and I don’t eat coconut (or drink coconut water). Chicken is probably okay, but it seems that I tolerate turkey a lot better (and it tastes a lot better, too).
The biggest takeaway for people is this: It doesn’t matter so much what I can eat. It matters very much what you can eat. The only way you can know what you can eat (assuming diet causes your hives or makes them worse), is to reduce nearly all major allergy-causing foods for a few weeks, and then slowly reintroduce them. It’s a process, but it could be the difference between hives or no hives.
Also, many people have had great results from following my diet, and others have modified it to suit their own body’s needs. Some have experienced tremendous relief by eliminating gluten alone. In addition, don’t forget about the other things I mention in the book (probiotics, etc.) because that is just as important as diet in my case.
Finally, don’t ever give up. Beating cholinergic urticaria is often a process, and it takes a lot of experimenting with diet, exercise, probiotics, antihistamines, etc. Work with a doctor to make sure everything that you’re trying is safe, but keep trying things. You will likely find something that either eliminates your hives or makes them greatly reduced to the point where they are no longer an issue.
SJAnalyst says
Thank you for the reply. I didn’t realize how active people are on this forum. I should check this more often. I figured the community would be extremely small for UC. I will have to modify my diet accordingly. I will take out oatmeal and coconut water for now. I also just bought the digestive advantage probiotic. Hopefully that helps.
For the record I was eating a lot of fast food prior to when I started this diet. I was also drinking 3-4 cups of coffee a day and a soda at lunch and sometimes a soda at dinner. However, I have a very fast metabolism and I never put on weight. Since I never gained weight I didn’t feel I needed to exercise. Now that I’m eating healthier and exercising I’ve been feeling A LOT better and haven’t been crashing throughout the day. Unfortunately, I haven’t see improvement with my hives but I just started the process of dieting and exercising.
I will try to give updates to explain how my diet is going and if I see any differences in my breakouts.
Thank you for all the help and support.
Tanya says
What book are you referencing?
SJAnalyst says
I’m referring to the Cholinergic Urticaria: A guide to chronic heat hives
I bought it about a year ago. Maybe longer. I didn’t want to try the dieting and exercising. The diet seemed to hard to do. However, I’ve recently hit the breaking point with UC and I really can’t take it anymore so I’m willing to do anything to get better. I just want to live a normal life and if that means I have to watch what I eat and exercise I’m okay with that.
If it does pay off, then I’ll actually be cured and a lot healthier as well. I’ll have to see where things go.
Marcia Hildreth McGrath says
My 31 year old son gave up sugar and caffeine, which helped immensely. He is also vegetarian, but not totally vegan. In addition, he exercises to the point of sweating about 3-4 times per week. Doing those things has made his life so so so much better! It was his chiropractor that told him to get off sugar. He improved quite a bit. (He also got off of the sweeter fruits.) Then the chiropractor suggested that he get off caffeine as well, and he got even better. Sugar is an inflammatory, so it stands to reason that it would aggravate *whatever* problem anyone has, and create problems where there weren’t any! (I’m talking here about a wide range of health issues, not just CU.)
Good luck with your pursuit of wellness!!
SJAnalyst says
Thanks a lot. This is very similar to what I’m doing. I dropped caffeine and sugar completely. No more coffee or deserts or dairy and I’m exercising now. I really hope it helps. However I am eating white meat but no red meat or fish. I will post an update after a month to let people know if what I’m doing helps.
Bob says
Hi SJAnalyst,
I was cured of CU by adopting a whole-food, plant-based (“vegan”) diet. I adopted this diet for general health reasons, and the disappearance of my CU was a happy, unanticipated side-effect.
Modern science is beginning to understand the mechanism at to why this worked. The relationship between the intake of fiber and the gut microbiome is central to this. I learned about this by reading a special section entitled Innovations in the Microbiome in the March 2015 issue of Scientific American magazine. Part of this can be found online at this link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/report/innovations-in-the-microbiome/ .
This series of articles explained that individuals who eat a diet high in fiber develop a thick layer of mucous surrounding the lining of their large intestine. This mucous layer is inhabited by beneficial bacteria which digest the fiber and produce the short-chain fatty acids acetate, butyrate, and propionate. These SCFA pass into the body of the human where they attach to receptors on regulatory T cells of the immune system. This helps to regulate the immune system and keep it from overreacting. This prevents autoimmune disorders like CU. This process is illustrated nicely in the “infographic” at this link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-microbes-keep-us-healthy-infographic/ .
I think you are off to a great start by eliminating caffeine, sugar, and dairy. If you don’t get the results you are after, try increasing your fiber intake by eating more fruits, vegetables, cooked whole-food starches, and legumes. Your goal is to change the composition of the bacteria in your gut to predominantly fiber-digesting species. This will serve to “dial-back” your immune system.
Good luck! I look forward to hearing your progress report in a month.