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I can’t believe I suffered needlessly for 26 years with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and life-threatening food impaction episodes. I saw three GI doctors and underwent over 30 endoscopies and biopsies before I solved the puzzle and the cause of my EoE.

I say puzzle because PPIs (proton pump inhibitors, like prescription famotidine (Pepcid) and over-the-counter Prilosec) only damaged my esophagus more and depleted my body of vitamin B12. Food impaction episodes that didn’t resolve themselves landed me in the ER and trips to the OR for emergency endoscopies.

My most recent emergency endoscopy occurred on September 7, 2021, when a piece of pork got lodged in my esophagus. My GI doctor then prescribed the 6-food elimination diet for six weeks. Eliminating soy, eggs, dairy, wheat, tree nuts, and fish and being allowed to everything on the Oregon Diet given to me by the dietician elevated my eosinophils to 100.

Next, my GI recommended the very restrictive Vivonex RTF liquid elemental diet. By the time I got an appointment for my next endoscopy, I had been on the elemental diet for eight weeks. The results of the endoscopy and biopsies were spectacular. I had ZERO eosinophils! I was thrilled! Research shows that while the elemental diet has an only 20% patient compliance, it has a 90 – 95% success rate. It healed my esophagus and cured my EoE. Now, my GI doctor had to figure out my triggers.

We began with the reintroduction of fruits and vegetables. I ate delicious vegetable dishes my husband and I made. I ate fruits I don’t normally eat like a lot of grapes. How shocked was I when 8 weeks later, another endoscopy and biopsy revealed my healed esophagus was damaged and my eosinophil count went from ZERO to 90.

This elevation begged the question – what do so-called fruits and vegetables have in common? The answer? Pesticides and insecticides. They harmed and poisoned my esophagus.

Then I researched the foods that I’ve been eating all my life — a smorgasbord of meats, poultry, fish, eggs, breads, dairy, baked goods, etc.—and the foods I was allowed on the 6-food elimination diet, which included a lot of corn products and non-dairy vegan cheese. My research and the foods labels showed that all these foods contain preservatives, additives, food coloring, steroids, and hormones. I began inspecting labels in supermarkets. I had a theory that the cause of my EoE and food impaction episodes was not the foods I was ingesting, but the chemicals and poisons in the foods I was ingesting.

To test my theory, I created my own diet — the Miriam Diet. This diet consists of cage-free no antibiotics, etc. eggs, free range chicken, grass-fed beef, red cabbage and green cabbage (the only two vegetables that have a natural enzyme that keeps pests and insecticides at bay), red and yellow onions, watermelon and pineapple (they have a thick rind and skin that makes it harder for insecticides and pesticides to seep in), organic beans, organic dark chocolate for snacking and baking, and organic flour to make pizza dough and bread. We continued to cook only in olive oil and with cilantro, oregano, sea salt, pepper, garlic gloves, and red and yellow onions. I also made homemade vanilla ice cream with organic heavy cream and dulce de leche, and brownies made only with preservatives and additives-free dark chocolate chips, cage-free egg, and pumpkin puree. I also continued drinking only Vivonex, plain seltzer, and water with all my meals.

I told my GI that I was convinced the cause of my EoE and elevated eosinophils was preservatives, additives, food coloring, steroids, additives, pesticides, and insecticides, which the elemental diet does not contain.
And I was right! Eight weeks later and a year later on September 8, 2022, my endoscopy and biopsy revealed a healthy esophagus and an eosinophil count of “up to ZERO”! The Miriam Diet worked! It was a healthy and healing success.

Lessons Learned:

1. Doctors don’t have all the answers.
2. Be curious, do your research, and be you own advocate. Take your EoE and eosinophils by the horns.
3. Drug-induced esophagitis is real. Medications are not always the answer; they contain preservatives and additives, and some are known to damage the esophagus. It’s no coincidence that I also have 11 drug allergies. These drugs all contain so-called inactive ingredients: preservatives, additives, etc. However, these inactive ingredients are harmful to me.
4. Prescribed diets require discipline and life-style changes that may be difficult for some to adhere to and may not work. The 6-food elimination diet caused more damage. The elemental diet healed me. The food reintroduction of fruits and vegetables damaged my esophagus.
5. Grow your own vegetables if you can. We grow our own vegetables in the summer/fall.
6. Read labels. Stay away from chemicals. Many so-called organic foods are not organic. You’ll see chemicals, preservatives, additives in the food label.
7. Buy authentic, certified non-GMO organic, cage-free, grass-fed, free-range foods if at all possible. They cost more, but in the long run they cost less than medications, endoscopies, biopsies, and trips to the ER and OR, even with medical insurance.
8. Be adventurous and willing to create and consume limited but healthy foods and recipes that will heal your EoE and end your needless scary and costly suffering.
9. I’m an endurance athlete. I live an active life as an ultrarunner, rock climber, and national parks hiker on a limited diet of healthy foods that don’t damage my esophagus.
10. Everyone’s EoE journey is different. What works for me may not work for you. But small changes could help you to heal.

Dishes and desserts in the photo: organic grass-fed beef, beans, and avocado pizza, organic bread, organic chicken, bean and cabbage soup; meatball, bean and cabbage soup; organic bean and sausage omelette, pumpkin brownie topped with organic vanilla ice-cream, and two-layer cream-filled pumpkin brownie cake. All homemade and free of preservatives, additives, food coloring, antibiotics, steroids, pesticides, and insecticides.

Written by Miriam Diaz-Gilbert, Patient Worthy Contributor