Since my last flare I've gone back to basics and am finding that food I have been eating Alot of over the years, I.e mushrooms go quite dark. Any advice on what level of colour chane is acceptable? And are most leafy greens safe? I would appreciate any insights on this. Thanks

I do not use iodine to test personally as I know what is generally safe for me and what is not. But I do recall from all the posts here is that the iodine test is not quantitative... only qualitative.

That means if turns dark... it means it has starch, but does not tell you how much starch.

There are several fringe foods as I call them... may have little starch or starch depending on time of season if not ripe. Some can eat them safely (less sensitive to starch probably because gut is healthier). Some of those foods include almonds, dairy, pistachios, unripe apples, cooked carrots and some with more healthy guts even include some varieties of rice. There are other foods I am forgetting...

For me, first goal is to see if you respond to diet, 2nd goal to improve gut health. I went very strict with diet at first. After over year, started working on gut health, but wish I would have started sooner...

Best to you,

Tim

Leafy greens are safe... I eat salads every day.

In States would put kale, lettuce, red lettuce, arugula for greens into salads. Even dandelion greens which have very strong taste. I love color in salads so often use red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots, celery, tomatoes, red peppers and like to add olives for contrast or grated cheese (hard cheese). In States even occasional radishes..

I always use olive oil for dressing.

Another I like is to steam brocoli or zuccinni and add sea salt and olive oil afterwards for greens.

Take care,

Tim

Dear Antoinette:

MUSHROOMS have NO STARCHES; if they are going dark with the iodine test there is something going wrong with the test. Perhaps there is something in the mushrooms that might cause this reaction, but all mushrooms are SAFE (well, unless they are otherwise strange or poisonous).

Yes, most leafy greens are fully safe, also.

The general rule is cooking vegetables, especially those which grow underground will cause the starch to become more available, whereas cooking (or drying) fruits helps convert the starches into sugars; most dried fruits are safe.

Some things cannot be so easily tested, like caramel which is very bad for us.

And there are some surprising things like tofu made from starchy soya beans is safe; the starch has converted into types of sugars, causing it to gel.

Best approach to using iodine is to take a representative sample of the food and place it on an unreactive surface (paper often has starch added to help color it white), then drop about 1% iodine solution (I use "Atomidine" or "Atomic Iodine," which is edible, but sometimes I use regular tincture, which at 3-6% could be diluted with alcohol for our purposes) onto the sample. Wait just under five minutes and check on the sample. A color change that is slight or in the very light purple range and food is moderately safe (could be "borderline"), however, definitive purple to black and it is poison for us.



bon appetit,
John

Thanks Tim and John, great tips. I have bben doing the no starch for close to three years, and whenever I have a flare, I look for the culprit and seem to cut out a lot of foods that are probably safe. I havnt eaten zucchini and brocolli for years because I thought they where starchy.

Thank goodness about the mushroom! I think I need to mix my iodine with some alcohol, because the strength makes everything look so dark.

Thanks again

Antoniette, Zuchini and mushrooms were my mainstay with slow cooked chicken at low heat for three months. Also with cabbage. Greens are essential. The colour green in plants is chlorophyl which means magnesium which means everything we need. If we lived on meat/fish and greens and fungi ALONE we would be pain-free i believe...
I know i would as it works for me.
Look at the colour as an indicator but look at your body reaction much more closely.