Protein and calcium

[bubbles]

Hello everybody, I have been doing this low choline diet since late Sep past, strictly for about 5 months and I mean I had to go way beyond what Dr Lachmann suggested, no meat, no dairy, etc. I also had food sensitivity tests done late Dec in a very reputable health clinic in my area which flagged up a severe reaction to dairy, eggs, MSG and refined sugar. Now I am very concerned about how much calcium and protein I am getting.

I got rice milk fortified with calcium but I find white rice doesnt agree with me so am a bit worried that the rice milk may be similiar, I can just about handle this on my porridge and mixed in with potatoes but havent managed to drink a glass of it on its own. I was thinking of coconut milk and would love to hear of peoples' experience with this!
I also got tropicana orange juice fortified with calcium and am taking one small glass of this per day, I am also taking vit D and calcium supplement as I was waking up with chronic back pain (upper back) and around my ribs and was seriously getting worried.

At the minute protein is my main worry I have generally been avoiding meat (white &red) dairy, etc so any sources of protein that are low in choline would be great as I know this is quite essential to the body. I just cant get my head around the fact that our bodies cant handle these things, which are essential for good health.

Many thanks Bubbles. X

[Hope1]

I am not on a low choline diet myself, but I am trying a vegan diet at the moment. For extra protein buckwheat might be good to try. Buckwheat groats have the same sort of texture as rice once cooked and can be used as a rice replacement (also has less starch than rice so is better if you suffer from a bacterial overgrowth). I am not completely sure of its choline content, I looked on nutrition data and it doesn't have a figure for the choline content, but it might be okay. It has good nutritional propeties too being a prebiotic so feeds friendly bacteria and can also be purchased as a flour. The flour can be added to water to make a dough which can make crispbreads.

Quinoa may be another option for protein (sorry I don't know the choline content of this either!).
I have no idea as to whether coconut milk is okay on a low choline diet, but it is good for people with bacterial problems as it has antifungal properties, and can be purchased as an oil for cooking as well.
Hopefully someone who knows more can give more advice on whether these items are okay or not.

I would quite like to know where people get their calcium from on these diets too as I am worried I am not getting enough.

[bubbles]

Hello Hope,
Thanks for getting back to me, I did a slight bit of research, some breads are fortified with calcium although this is problematic for me because most contain soya or grains which I have to try to avoid. Also some cereals are also fortified, rice milk is too. I think I also read that celery contains calcium although how much I am not sure. I also read that a high salt diet can pull calcium stored in your body, if you are to get a supplement I think from my background reading it is best to get one that combines calcium and vit D as vit D helps absorb calcium or something along those lines. Good luck. X Bubbles

[Hope1]

Thanks I didn't know about salt and vitamin D in relation to calcium. I think I will be adding another supplement to my pill pile!

[smelly]

Sorry I dont have the time to go back lookingthrough posts for you, but there was a great post someone did where Im sure they said that english walnuts (specifically rather than from elsewhere?) and sprouted mung beans were good for protein but comparatively low in choline, ie GOOD and also very healthy foods to eat

Try the search bar at the top putting in 'walnuts' or 'sprouted' and itll prob come up. I dont want to get too distracted doing it because there are milliions of posts for me to catch up on tonight!

[bubbles]

Thanks S,
In my haste to post my query I didnt actually read the earlier messages on protein in this section, I don't know how I didn't see them but have done so now, thanks Bubbles.

[Weak]

There was a post made before about proteins you should try to search for it, if i remember correctly black walnuts and tahini are low in choline and high in protein and would make good snacks. Also how is your deit treating you? are you seeing improvements and can you message me your specific deit and routines as i would like to start dieting soon.

[bubbles]

Hey W,
I will private message you with my routine but it mightn't be to later on in the week, sorry my evenings this week are all hectic hopefully Thursday or Friday evening. Bubbles

[bubbles]

Hey I have been very sore lately in my upper back and chest, it has been going on for months now so I no longer feel it is just the position I am sleeping in although it is generally sorer first thing when I wake up and I have had pain in and around my heart, i have had very little muscle strength lately and have put that down to lack of calcium and protein, now the calcium I am dealing with a supplement but protein is a problem, for my height, weight i think I should be getting around 55g (think that is the right unit) and I dont think I am getting even half of this on my restrictive diet, so worried abut this that I have actually eaten meat Friday and today, chicken and sausages and I generally dont touch meat. I tried going the seeds and nuts route, I brought quinoa and hemp seeds, cashew and walnuts and had a really bad odour day and I generally had my odour in check there for a while although I was due on my period and did forget my charcoal the night before the smelly day and the morning of the odour I took it late plus I was a bit more stressed out this day, i had porridge that morn plus hemp seeds and cue the odour, the fecal variety, the one I cant smell so would be very reluctant to go this way. (I was made ware of the odour from others) I did a bit more research and cashew nuts are quite high according to some sites I have looked at, walnuts are a good bit lower, pomegranate a cup full has 4.71g, passion fruit 5.19g and guava 4.21 grams of protein, these are the highest of those that were listed in the fruit section, a plain bagel has roughly about 10g of protein, a baked potato without salt and with skin on 4.33 of protein, 100g of porridge oats has 11.1g of protein, my freefrom pasta has 7.0g of protein per 100g. Mung beans from what I can see are quite low in choline and very high in protein but I will need to look at more sites to get verification of this. That is all, I wish I could have a more balanced diet for my overall health I feel I am lacking in fatty acids, omega three as well as the two big ones calcium and protein but for my own sanity I need to try to stick to this diet for my own sanity because odour days totally destroy and I fall apart and am a blubbering mess, so maybe I will have a meat fix on a Friday (small amount if I am not going anywhere the next day) but perhaps not in the week before my period, i dont know I am a bit afraid of meat these days but felt my body this weekend was telling me I had to have it as my strength in my muscles , lack of i mean was worrying me quite a bit.

[smelly]

bubbles,

off the top of my head, 50g protein sounds about right. I can remember someone on another forum saying it was the equivalent of a piece of chicken about 1/2 - 1/3 size chicken breast, ie much less than most people would eat in one meal nevermind the whole day.

Have you been actually measuring out the correct amounts of each food so that you are getting that 55 g of protein per day and no more?

Im interested because Ive been reading up on general nutrition lately and trying to psych myself up to writing down a meal plan with all the correct amounts of nutrients but trying to accomodate the choline aspect. I was encouraged to read that most people eat way more protein than they need and it might actually be healthier to eat a lower protein diet so we might be able to eat a lowish choline diet with the correct amount of protein and other nutrients.

Ill see if I can post something later today......

PS I can identify with your dilemma of having different odours that seem to be produced by different foods, and some you can smell and others you cant, thus making it nigh on impossible to find a diet that 'works', and by eating less of food x you end up eating more of food y and y makes a smell you cant detect so you make the odour worse when you think you're making it better....... I have that probem aswell.Im coming round to the idea of working out a healthy diet plan and just living with the resulting odour.