The Results are in!

What a day... woke up feeling great and full of energy...and excited for my food testing appointment!! 

It was so interesting.  They tested over 80 foods.  They used a machine/ technique called "biotron."  Here is what they found.

Foods that have zero benefit to me (can eat sparingly)
- whey
- mushrooms
- candida

Foods that I should avoid
- barley malt
- yogurt
- onion
- baker's yeast
- caffeinated tea

Foods that are BAD, that should be completely eliminated! (yikes!)
- COFFEE... OH NO
- BANANA...crap... I love these.  ** This was probably my big offender a few weeks ago!!
- SUGAR (of the refined form)  After I freaked out, she quickly ran and got some sugar alternatives which all tested ok (sucanat, stevia, honey, maple syrup)
- CORN  (not a biggie although this is found in a lot of foods!
- ICE CREAM (too bad...)
- SMOKED MEAT (no biggie, can't remember the last time I had this)
- CHOCOLATE (what the ......)
- COLA (don't drink it anyway)

So, there you have it!  Not as bad as I would have thought.  After my test, I met with a Naturopath doctor and we had a nice time chatting.  She thinks and supports the elimination diet that I'm on is great.  She would like me to stay away from the above mentioned foods and stay away from dairy & wheat for the time being.  I also spoke to her about some of my other concerns (leaky gut syndrome) and she gave me some high quality probiotics.  I have been reading that it is very common for people with RA to have leaky gut syndrome.  Sounds gross eh.  It's not really... here is the definition:

Leaky gut syndrome describes a condition of altered or damaged bowel lining, caused by toxins, poor diet, parasites, infection or medications, which has led to increased permeability of the gut wall to substances which normally remain isolated in the lumen, away from the body's internal circulatory or interstitial areas. NSAIDS such as aspirin are known to erode the gut lining and cause inflammation, other medications such as corticosteroids suppress immune function and disturb intestinal flora, and antibiotics indiscriminately kill bacteria causing bacterial flora disruptions in the small intestine.
It has been proposed that, when substances such as toxins, microbes, undigested food, waste or larger than normal macromolecules leak through an abnormally-permeable gut wall, they affect the body directly, while others postulate an immune reaction to these substances.

She also gave me some pharmaceutical grade fish oil. 

So, my plan is to keep chuggin along with my e-diet.  Avoid these bad foods and see what happens!  It's all so interesting!!