Shania,
If it helps you, I"ve copied several of the posts that got this diet idea going here at the bottom of my post here. I am going off of her diet.
I think the idea is to keep the choline count SUPER LOW for a limited period of time, maybe lower than you would on a regular maintenance diet, then take your supplements and probiotics and see if we can't "knock this out," possibly become odor free permantly.
I'm thinking it might work like an anti-candida diet, where you starve the yeast so low, but we lower our TMA so low, and then take the probiotics, and the good bacteria will squeeze out the TMA and we will be odor free. I guess there's a chance it could be forever, or at least a LONG time, maybe until the bacteria builds up again, and maybe we just have to do this super strict diet again.
My hopes are, like Leonor, who wrote the posts below, we will become odor free and be able to expand our diet a little after the strict 2 - 3 month period. Maybe the TMA will never build up again if we fill in the area with the probiotics. I believe this is the "natural" way to do it without the antibiotics, which I am a little afraid of.
With this diet we are embarking on, the idea is to keep the choline SUPER low. So the lower the content the more we could eat. I don't think it's so much the exact foods as much as the choline content, but to keep it easy and somewhat mindless, I've determined specific foods that I will eat and stick with. Also, I believe there are some foods that, even though low in choline, certain folks have determined may cause an odor anyway. I would like to discuss those on the conference call, whenever we do it. Maybe Sunday evening around 5:00?
Just a suggestion.
I've written my plan below, with the choline content, rounded off, per 100 grams per serving. I just want a disclaimer that I'm not encouraging anyone to do this, as it might be unsafe, but for a limited amount of time, 2 - 3 months, I plan to keep my choline count under 100 per day, as low as I possibly can stand without being totally unhealthy, only for a limited period of time, by eating the food below.
I would like to do the conference call and discuss some of the questionable foods and see if they should be on the list or not. It would be nice to have one list that everybody agrees on, then maybe, if you'd like, you can tweak it as you personally want to. The first list I have here I think would be totally agreeable to everyone. Then the second list would be interesting to discuss.
Obviously you can see some are higher than others. I would plan to eat more of the lower ones and maybe some of the higher ones if you really need to. The chicken I will probably plan to cook it and keep it in the fridge and only eat like 1/3 of the breast each day, or every other day or so as I need something more substantial, or kind of sprinkle it in so I can eat protein and feel full, but stick to 1/3 per day or less.
HERE IS THE LIST OF FOOD I PLAN TO EAT:(including their choline content rounded off per 100 gram serving.)
(I strive to make this list 100% agreeable with everyone involved.)
rice milk (Rice Dream, orig.) ?? low
Crispix cereal 4
Rice Krispies cereal 6
white rice 2
green & other peppers 5
cucumbers 6
celery 6
carrots 9
zuchini 9.5
tomatoes 8
Romain lettuce 10
chicken breast 60
sweet potato (small amounts) 13
pears Canned in heavy syrup 2
peaches canned in syrup 4
strawberries 6
blueberries 6
blackberries 9
gelatin (jello) .6
olive oil .3
herbal caffeine-free tea ?
Sea Salt only for seasoning ?
HERE ARE THE ITEMS I'D LIKE TO EAT BUT WOULD LIKE FEEDBACK FIRST:(If everyone agrees on an item i'll move it to the above list. If not we can decide for ourselves if we want to add it, but will not add it to the first, 100% agreeable list)
maybe egg whites (Some say they cause odor, even tho low in choline.)
white potato 14
pasta 6.5
watermellon 4 (someone said no watermellon-wold like to know why?
English muffins (infrequently) 16
Kellogg's Pop tart strawberry frosted 8, (16 for 2 pastries I imagine)
Cincinnamon ?
black pepper ?
Yogurt, fruit, low fat, 10 grams protein per 8 ounce 14
I think if we can agree on these lists it could make it very mindless to follow. It actually seems like a pretty wide variety.
And sorry to be redundant, but to kind of put everything in one spot, here is my supplement, etc. plan. I don't think you need the exact brands, but I've researched and these contain less fillers, etc.:
HCI - stomach acid digestive enzymes Metagest brand
Digestive enzymes Digetzyme brand
B-2 (riboflavin) 5 times a day diligently TwinLab brand
Folic acid - 1 in a.m. and 1 in p.m. Solgar brand
Magnesium to keep my bowels moving "Support" by Perfect Balance
High doses of probiotics -Klaire-Labs Ther-Biotic powder (heard about from someone on the forum.) I'm hoping gargling with the powder before swallowing might help with bacteria in the mouth for hallitosis also.
low pH soap: Neutrogena Body Clear Body Scrub (my favorite. has scrubbing beads in it.)
Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash (scented of grapefruit. don't know if that's a problem. there's also plain.
low pH lotion: Eucerin Daily Skin Balance Body Lotion
Dermadoctor KP Duty dermatologist moisturizing therapy for dry skin (LOVE this but it's VERY expensive. It also sloughs. So I don't use it everyday, but I rotate it in maybe a couple times a week or I use it on parts that need sloughed only and the Eucerin on the other parts.
lemon juice at end of my shower. spray on, leave on 1 min., rinse. (Many seemed to have success with the lemon.)
BELOW IS THE POST from Leonor who did this SUPER low diet for 3-1/2 months and had great success:Hope this all helps!
BeTheMiracle (Wendy)
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POSTED BY LEONOR ON TMAU FORUM:I DEVELOPED TEMPORARY SEVERE SYMPTOMS OF TMAU. I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED THIS BEFORE. THIS SUMMER I WAS STRESSED AND DEPRESSED. I STARTED TO DEVELOP AN ODOR OF GARBAGE AND SEWER. AND A CLIENT HAD CONFIRMED AN ODOR OF "SMELLY OLD SOCKS". WELL I WENT INTO ATTACK MODE! I RESEARCHED BODY ODORS, FOUND THIS WONDERFUL SUPPORT GROUP AND GOT TESTED FOR TMAU. MY RESULTS CAME BACK NEGATIVE. I REVERSED THIS PROBLEM BY GOING ON A STRICT CHOLINE DIET. IT WAS NOT FUN BECAUSE THE DIET WAS VERY LIMITED. BUT, I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I DON'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM ANYMORE (FOR NOW). I DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL EVER COME BACK (GOD FORBID!) , BUT I DO KNOW THAT THE STANDARD SUPPLEMENTS AND STRICT CHOLINE DIET DID REVERSED MY PROBLEM.
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The odor is completely gone! And I no longer follow the choline diet. This summer when I was experiencing this severe odor problem it was so bad that I had to throw away new set of sheets, two laundry loads that even the washing twice with special detergent was not able to get rid of the odor. So thank God I no longer experience any of this. I'm a Chrisitian with a lot of faith and I also prayed feveriously and still do. But, I do know that the strict diet got rid of the problem: This was my diet;
PEARS, PEAR JUICE, WHITE RICE, RICE MILK, RICE KRISPIES, BAKED CHICKEN, EGG WHITES, GREEN PEPPERS, CUCUMBERS AND OCCASSIONAL BAKED SWEET POTATO. I DID THIS FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS WHEN THE PROBLEM COMPLETELY REVERSED.( I lost 12lb during this diet).
Hope this helps