So I started going LSD back in Sept of last year. I've cut out about 95% of starch and do have a little here and there as my pain is only in my ribcage and only during sleep at night. During waking hours I don't notice anything much at all.

I've definitely seen some reduction in pain when I sleep at night which is what I was going for. Pain used to be round a 6-7 and now it's down to a 3-4. I think for me, one of the biggest triggers is sugar and thus I've had to cut that out . Starch in low quantities doesn't seem to be as much a trigger as sugar. I've been a sugar addict since I can remember so I'm not too suprised by this.

Here's some observations I've noticed....

For me, it's sorta strange as I think the time of day when I consume the starch might play a factor as well. The earlier I do it, I seem to maybe "burn it off" as opposed to eating it at night and letting just sit in my stomach.

Also, for me I don't really experience a traditional "flare" if I eat something troublesome. What happens for me is this strange extreme hunger pangs and then my ribs hurt more than usual that night during sleep. For example last night I had a giant 3/4 pound tuna steak with my usual huge helping of leafy greens with a gallon of olive oil . I was literally so stuffed I felt I could explode. Then my wife gets a small helping of quinoa and I think what the heck, it may be a grain that isn't an issue....
I have a about a half a cup of it and within minutes I'm no longer full, but I become EXTREMELY hungry, like stomach growlin' feel like I could eat a horse. I slept pretty good too, pain wasn't even that bad. In the past those hunger pangs signaled a bad night of sleep ahead as that meant I ate something suspect. Did this mean my body was craving that quinoa and wanted more? Or since I think I'm still battling Candida was it the Candida getting all crazy and feeding on the starch?

Here's another strange incident that I keep revisiting in my head. About two months ago, my wife and I went up skiing and stayed at a friend's condo in the mountains. I snowboarded harder than I have in years that day and was completely exhausted by days end. That night our host fixed us a huge spaghetti dinner to which I just ate figuring I'd be a little sore that night. To my surprise, my pain was non existant that night and I even slept on a very uncomfortable bed. Was it the day of snowboarding? Mountain altitude? Not really sure what to think as most nights my level of pain is anywhere from a 3-4.

For now, I'm doing no sugar no dairy, and trying my best on the starch front. I eat a ton of avocados and chicken. Lots of leafy greens. I've lost about 30 pounds which has been amazing and much needed! I carried my weight well as most my friends were shocked when I told them I used to weigh close to 200 (Im only 5'8) and now weigh 165 although I don't look that different. My wife and I are total foodies and still like to go out to eat once every two weeks. When we go out, I don't eat the breads and skip anything that looks starchy and usually order the meats/seafood but I dont' ask the restaurant to alter any of the dishes. I skip dessert which was once my favorite dish and settle for my new treat, a shot of espresso. I never drank coffee my entire life and now at 35 love a single shot of decaf espresso. I even make them at home with home made sugar free almond milk so yummy!


Anyways, sorry for the long winded post, just wanted to share my progress for everyone.

My three next big steps for the coming months are:

1) Food sensitivies test- I think this will actually yield great results for me.
2) Water only fast for about a week- Also think this will be really great for me. Not sure how this helps with Candida though.
3) Going to try a round of antibiotics and see what that does as well.

thank you very much for sharing your progress. I think progress reports like what you have written is what this forum needs. please keep posting. Btw, are you HLA B27 positive ?

So nice to read your post - thanks for putting it up! I can relate to a lot of it. I have been NSD for the past 5 months.

I can't agree more about sugar. My weaknesses are raw cacao + honey + date creations. They used to make me feel so good, content, and provide a great burst of energy, but lately I blame them for triggering those old feelings of Candida in my gut, bloating, and creating achy body pains.

Right now, I am fasting on green juices and love it. When I return to eating it will again be dishes like you mentioned, lots of seafood, greens, avacado, olive oil or coconut oil. Along with salads & smoothies early in the day.

This diet would be a dream if I could only continue to eat bits of honey daily I plan to still play around with dates, and hope they will be okay in my diet if I don't over do it!! We are getting our own bee hive this spring, so I do hope I will be able to eat bits of honey from time to time....?!


Best of Luck & Health to You,
-Andrea

If not already done so, check out the No/Low Starch Diet Success Stories, see menue lower right hand side. You can also put in a search. You will find many stories on diet: success, running accounts of and diet failure stories - more success than failure. And, usually is also noted whether positive or negative for the HAL-B27 gene (a positive factor is no longer considered as part and parcel of an AS DX).

Hope this has helped -

I have checked it many times, thanks Molly!

and for the record pspondylitis, I'm B27+.

Hi FlexibleMind,

Apetite Hormones Insulin and Leptin respond to sugar. In that sense sugars are addictive - so says David Gillespie in his book 'Big Fat Lies'
'Most of what you think you know about weight loss is wrong! You've been lied to! Bacon and eggs are good for you. Low fat milk is not. And sugar is poison, and it's addictive. So believes David Gillespie, author of Big Fat Lies: why the diet industry is making you sick, fat and poor, who is in conversation with Paul Barclay.'

You can listen to his alternative ideas
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/

Oops - should have addressed to pspondylitis...

I am HLA-B27 negative - the diet seems to work well for me. Am LSD - but somewhat intermittent now.

Flexible Mind,
Glad the NSD is working so well for you. I notice sugar does not like my joints either, and I consider myself a foodie too. I think honey may be an issue as well, not positive though.

I can eat one starch a day and not feel too bad too. I think its because I have been doing NSD since August, maybe before that? I think as the gut heals its ok to have a starch once a day or every couple days. I still try my best to stick to veggies, fruits and meats and stay away from sugars.

I still have visible swelling in my knee and wrist but it is sooo much better than it used to be. I am weaning off of prednisone and I can't wait to get off of that horrible stuff. I am going to throw a party when I get off of it. I am currently at 6-7 mgs, hopefully by the end of the year I will be off for good. Never again.

Best of health to you, take care.

FlexibleMind thanks for the long post.

I think this kind of recounts helps a lot to gain insight in the disease. It's very different read the list of symptoms from being told by someone how does it feel.

I've noticed that avoiding sugar helps me a lot too. But its delayed, for instance I've been feeling very good lately, but in the last 3 days I've eaten sugar.. I was doing a recipe of blueberry frozen yogurt (more like blueberry kefir ice cream the way i do it) and I couldn't find the box of stevia I had bought. So I added sugar... And yet I haven't feel as bad.. maybe in the next days?

I was thinking the other day that it might be helpful if we could have some sort of wall here, where we could list our medical issues if we wanted, from childhood. Sort of a medical history. It might help relate, find similar clues, what works, what don't.

It would be great to be able to see for userX how started, progressed, what did he used to eat before, the meds, etc.

@Valsmum-hopefully you'll get off the prednisone soon and you'll invite me to your party!

@chicharito- seems like you do have delayed responses to sugar but your ice cream sounds awesome!

Just to be clear I'm not actually NSD, but more LSD. I still eat some starches about 5% of the time, things like rice, rice noodles, etc and some stuff that is probably in sauces at restaurants and I very rarely will have a full sandwich.

On another note just to update this I realize I left some other important findings out of my original post. I tried a round of probiotics as well and found something very interesting with that too. When I would take it early in the morning (usually a coconut water kefir) I was okay, possibly even better at night with my ribs. However, my naturopath told me I should also take a tablespoon before bed which I tried. The two nights I did this was the worst sleep I can remember in a long time. Not only did my ribs ache, but I got those extreme hunger pangs I talked about too. I mean, like SO hungry I thought I would die. And this after taking the kefir at night around 9pm, I would be starving my 11pm. So I realized if I'm going to do probiotics I need to them earlier in the day.....not sure why this is exactly?? I also take starch free vit C, glutamine, calcium, magnesium, fish oil, boswellia, and sometimes B yeast flakes.

Also, I'm not a big drinker and have found that I needed to give up beer . I do however enjoy a nice 2-3 finger scotch every once in awhile. It used to never really affect me at all but now, when I have just one of these I feel like I'm literally hammered and wake up with a semi bad hangover as if I was at the bar all night putting down a bottle of scotch as opposed to maybe a shot, shot and a half? That's on a full stomach too! Guess I just can't handle alcohol the way I used to since starting this diet. Before, I could have dinner and a few glasses of wine but now it just seems that alcohol is out of the question. I wonder if this is due to the sugar content of the alcohol or some other factor? maybe just gettin' old, lol?

Anyways, just a couple other observations I thought I'd add. I appreciate everyone's responses as well as the board more than anything. It's really helped me on this journey of discovery.

Jason