Just completed day 12 of the diet, but I honestly think I'm worse than when I started.

The main symptoms I was hoping to address were mild inflammation of the right side colon, persistent nausea and weight loss (I need to regain about 12-14 pounds). Also, I was hoping that the diet would give me more energy.

Well, the results so far:

Mild inflammation of colon - this may or may not have cleared up. Hard to tell, as I only received mild pain sometimes anyway.

Nausea - This is definitely worse. Probably due to the sweetness of the shakes - maybe feeding my candida (haven't done a test, but suspect I may have it).

Weight loss /gain - I have possibly gained a couple of pounds, but have been drinking about 3400 calories per day, when I only need 2100 to maintain my weight. Surely I should have put on more by now?

Energy levels - these are worse. I recently did an adrenal stress test which showed I had very low cortisol levels. I had assumed that as my energy would not be used up by the process of digesting food, the cortisol levels may increase and with it, my energy. However, the opposite seems to be the case. Maybe the sugaryness of the Absorb Plus is causing me a problem here...

I have religiously adhered to the diet, taking all the supplements as per the book, including Wild Oregano oil. I have done weight training, walking, yoga, craniosacral therapy, massage - all the recommended activities. I have taken time off work. I drink the shakes slowly through a straw.

I'm close to giving up, as I expected to see more progress by this stage and I'm begininning to think that carrying on may be counterproductive.

Any suggestions?

Hi, gromit.

From what you said, it sounds like you have adrenal exhaustion as a factor in there. Does that sound right?

If so, yes, the sugar in the Absorb Plus (even though it's natural fructose) could possibly contribute to your problems with energy. Likewise, with any type of refined carbohydrate and obviously, any elemental (which simply means broken down into very small components) product is going to be refined . . . by its very definition.

When you're pursuing holistic health, it's often necessary to let less serious symptoms ride while you take care of more serious ones. So as I see it, you have to determine which of your symptoms is the more serious one and once you've done that, you can go forward from there.

If it was me, I'd tend to stay out of work and stay on the IBD Remission Diet for the full course. The single best therapy for restoring tired adrenals is to rest. To quote from a terrific book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause (which also has plenty of information in it that would be useful to a man):

Rest means relief from stress, plenty of sleep, and plenty of play. And that means gentle play - no bungee jumping! Activities such as gardening, playing the guitar, or walkign your dog are all examples of exercise that are both active and restful.

But that's me. You know your own body better than anyone else can - you live in it 24/7! So definitely go with your own intuition, not mine.

There have been a couple of discussion threads dealing with difficulty gaining weight, so I'm going to include the links below as you may wish to review them.

http://www.jinipatelthompson.com/bb2/vi ... php?t=1310

http://www.jinipatelthompson.com/bb2/vi ... php?t=1332

I hope that gives you some hope, at least.

All the best,
Nicole