# elimination diet and rice intolerance



## Guest (May 5, 2001)

can one deelop an intolerance to rice, of all things?tom


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Tom, why do you think your rice intolerant?Does it bother you everytime you eat it?------------------Moderator of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Anxiety and Hypnotherapy forumI work with Mike and the IBS Audio Program. www.ibshealth.com www.ibsaudioprogram.com


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## Guest (May 6, 2001)

no, intolerances are more of a long-term thing as i understand it. I'e wndered this before, but I'e been really noticing this time that whenever i start an elimination diet i either don't get better or I get worse. the only constant thing on these diets has been that I tend to eat a more rice instead of bread. I also thin that my case might be a little different from most westerners as I'e always eaten a fair amount of rice and since first being diagnosed with ibs about ten years ago, rice has become a fairly constant part of my diet. i also am aware that rice has a shorter fiber than wheat, for example. i'm also not aware of any secific test that can be done for rice intolerance.tom


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## babydoc_au (Jan 26, 2000)

I personally find rice gives me severe bloating, as does pasta. Elimination diets always recommend rice, and the first time I did one I felt no better. Once I cut out rice (and pasta, cabbage, broccoli, peppers, onions, legumes, cauliflower, potatoes and corn) my bloating improved a great deal. I still eat small amounts of some of these veges occasionally, otherwise it gets kind of boring.Elimination diets always say that rice is easy to digest. However, for me it seems that carbohydrates worsen my symptoms. I also used to eat lots of rice and pasta as I am a vegeterian. I suggest you cut it out for a while and see what happens. I find I can manage small amounts of white bread-which is the opposite of many people.


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Hi Tom,I can't tolerate rice either - I have similar problems to babydoc.Clair


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## abcdefg (Apr 1, 2001)

I have that same problem with rice/carbohydrate/sugar. Tested postive on lactulose (not lactose) hydrogen breath test. Sorry to bring this up, but when you have an attack, do you also sometimes get very large quantity bm? If so, may want to get tested for small intestine bacterial overgrowth and h.pylori. Just a thought. You may have already done so. Good luck.


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## AD (Jan 23, 2000)

Rice, along with pasta and certain other carbohydrate foods can absorb large amounts of water, expanding in your stomach. Also, rice has little fiber. If a person fills up on rice leaving no room left for high-fiber foods, problems may result.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Rice is a staple in most stoneage elimination diets because it is one of the lowest-probability reactives in the Western diet. But it is not unheard of. ESPECIALLY if eaten constantly. One can develop and intolerance to any food overconsumed.Another problem that can be mistaken for rice intolerance is contamination by bacillus cereus. This is a spore former commonly found in rice, and cooking the rice does not kill the spores. Even if promptly refrigerated the spores can begin to grow about 5 hours after cooking. If left at room temperature longer, they start sooner and multiply faster.So if you are in the habit of cooking up a supply of rice, keeping it in the container and eating out of it for 2-3 days, you can be giving yourself a belly ache from this bacteria and not know it.To be absolutley safe, all rice not to be immediately eaten should eb refirgerated immediately. Do not eat rice more than 24 hour old. AND DO NOT feed leftover rice more than 12 hours old to babies. The degree of contamination and illnes is proportionate to their body size...beleive me I know this is a hassle (my wide is Colombian so rice is a staple food, PLUS it is for me anyway since I am potato reactive). BUT I just have to trin the hispanics in the house not to do this. And I know the baby had it at least once while I was out of town and momma fed her rice that was kept too long.Anyway, this can happen too and is not commonly known.If a person is confirmed to not have active bowel infection, and remains symptomatic on a stoneage diet,then the elements of that diet are also suspect. Rice seems to produce abnormal cellular reactictivity in about 10% or less of food intolerant persons. Thus it is uncommonm but not unheard of.Try substituting barley and see what happens. Give it at least a week minimum. You can also see if one of the local Indian or West Indian food stores has cassava. Its a starchy root that makes a good substitute for potatoe and rice etc. It has some toxins that have to be removed if it is imported (most of the US sold cassava does not have this problem) but just to be safe peel it and soak it like you would beans first, then dice it and boil it for 15-20 minutes or until it is soft. Eat like potatoe.Eat well, Think well, Be well.MNL_______________ www.leapallergy.com [This message has been edited by Mike NoLomotil (edited 05-06-2001).]


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## Guest (May 6, 2001)

thanks all,i'll report back in a week.tom


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

In the elimination diets for food allergy testing there are usually 3 sets of diets. Only one has rice in it as a certain percentage of people have problems with rice.One uses rice as the starch base, one uses wheat, and one uses corn.K>------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

And that's why one has to go beyond food allergy elimination diets...a person has little likelihood of being allegric to all three, but it is very common to have corn and wheat sensitivity of non-allergic origin comorbidly, and much less common to have all three. So eliminatin dieting, to be successful, with food sensitivities must by nature differ or one will never get it sorted out.MNL_____________ www.leapallergy.com


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## Blair (Dec 15, 1998)

Used to eat it all the time, not any more though. I eat alot of corn products instead which is pretty weird because corn is usually a problem much more often than rice. As far as I'm concerned rice is a pure starch bomb for my insides just like pasta. I'm going for the bacteria overgrowth test friday but am not overly optimistic about any results being accurate one way or another. It might be that starches just cause bacteria to "overgrow" were they belong in the Colon but my nerves don't like that? My whole diet is basied on trial and error over a period of about 4 years, and yes I considered rice a safe food for a long time!!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Geneerally Rice starch is well digested and absorbed by humans (your mileage may vary) in the small intestine so very little gets to the colon for the bacteria to eat. Most other starches get to the colon with a goodly portion undigested and absorbed by you so the bacteria eat them.This is not overgrowth, this is normal. All people have bacteria in their colon and the bacteria in there digest the starches we cannot.K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html


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## Guest (May 8, 2001)

info overload. i'm confused at all the info at the moment. is there a good simple explanation of these things anywhere on the web?tom


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

To which question do you want a web site. Without knowing which question(s) are the issue it's hard to point to a particular web site.Generally every single food available on the planet will have some subset of people that cannot tolerate it. It may be a small number of people but there is no universally safe and tolerated food. Someone is intolerant of any food you can name. Some foods are more commonly a problem than others, but that is a statisitcal arguement. It means nothing to the individual. You have the intolerances you have, not the statisitical averages of all people's intolerances. Just because corn has more people who can't eat it doesn't mean anything on the individual level. Either you can eat corn or you can't. Either you can eat rice or you can't. It doesn't matter what the population distribution are in your GI tract. All that matters is what your GI tract will or will not tolerate.Different grains string glucose together in differnet ways. Some are more easily digestible by statisical populations of humans than others. Rice is usually the easiest for the population as a whole to digest, so there isn't much left to feed the bacteria, so usually is less likely to cause gas, BUT if you are intolerant to rice it doesn't matter that millions of people have no problem with it. Your individual GI tract doesn't function as a statistical averge of the populations stomachs.K.[This message has been edited by kmottus (edited 05-07-2001).]


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## Guest (May 8, 2001)

a basic reputable site on digestive processes that explains some of the things mentioned here. i'm learning digestion and always learned better in school from the textbook than what the insructor said.tom


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

http://www.howstuffworks.com/food.htm http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pat...sics/index.html http://ibscrohns.about.com/health/ibscrohn...bldigestimp.htm http://www.gastro.org/public/yourdigest.html http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual_home/sec9/99.htm http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/pub...pubs/ddform.htm K.------------------I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html [This message has been edited by kmottus (edited 05-08-2001).]


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

TR:Your question "....is there a good simple explanation of these things anywhere on the web?"As K noted with her links there are many places where there are good 'quality" explanations. If you read her links and are still confused I can give you a dozen more. Unfortunately the "simple" part is an oxymoron when it comes to this subject matter (like "jumbo shrimp"). It sux, but it is just plain not simple. It takes work, even for highly educated physicians, to fully grasp the scope and nuance within that scope.But I know you and you are pretty determined person. Just stay single-minded...approach it that "I am going to be patient. I am going to read and make notes, then reread. I won't get aggravated that it is confusing because it cannot be helped. Understanding will not come by osmosis. I know that. But I will master the subject if I choose to." And you will, give it a little time.MNL______________ www.leapallergy.com


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## Guest (May 9, 2001)

thanks, k & mtom


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