Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Carbs anyone?

Hi Howard,
Well actually I live quite far away, the maltodextrine will have to travel over the ocean, but thanks very much for the offer. You can click by the way on the profiles of the usernames to find that kind of info (if the person has filled this in of course). Hip pains are bad and I am very glad to not have them cause that would most probably end my running too. What I do have are SI pains and I can run through that but I don't think you are referring to that. Cycling on my racing bike has over the years become very hard for me as my neck has not the strength to support the head to support all the bumping on rougher roads. On a mountain bike however and in a more upright position I can adjust to it in a few days. Like you I see the pool as the last option cause it keeps very important to keep moving to keep feeling well. A last tip is too find a manual therapist (fysio, osteo) who can manipulate the hip. My fysio just got his degree on a study that compared the effectiveness of different treatments for osteoarthritis of the hip and other hip problems and the outcome was that manipulation of the hip joint prooved to be the most effective treatment.
Gerard

"Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are."
-Anthelme Brillat Savarin -

Howard,
I cycle too, although I don't race. (In fact I once did coast to coast in the US and went right across Montana, where you're from - my abiding memory of Montana is lots of roadkill, bad quality roads and truck drivers trying to run us off the road). I have gone into complete remission on NSD and am pretty active now, having been walking with a stick 5 years ago.

I think that you may have a problem racing without carbs, at least until your body adjusts. I eat a lot of fruit on the bike, but in my opinion you will struggle to replace pasta because it is such a pain to need to keep eating all the time. The great thing about carbs is getting a slow release of energy over time, which is what you need. I take a couple of bananas and apples every time I go out on the bike, which seems to work fine for me. I think that the bonk comes on more rapidly not eating carbs however, so you have to be very careful about feeding.

Best of luck with the new season.
Regards,
Charlie

Hello,

How lucky you are to live in a nice warm place so near to the best bike races in the world. I dream of one day coming back to Europe and watching some of the great Tours and cheering riders along. Do you follow proffessional racing at all? Your recollection is correct about Montana, our roads are bad, the animals are so big they tend to do more damage to cars than the cars do to them and the local "rednecks" think that it is really fun to see how close they can get their wing mirror on their trucks to your head. Fortunatly, I am just an amature racer and a new one at that. It is a hobbie and not a means of financial support. It does not matter if I do well in a race to anyone except myself. I have started the NSD. How long have was it before you saw results from the diet? I am hoping that I will get over the dependence on simple carbs, flour and sugar and start using more complex carbs better. I am also hoping that I may be able to try eatting brown rice. For now I am going to go without and see if I get any pain relief. If I get pain relief, I will try the brown rice and see if the pain returns. Were you shocked about Pantani? I certainly was.

Cheers

Howard

Howard,
On the NSD issue, I had major pain relief within a month, but until I gave up the beer a few years after starting the diet I still had a few very minor flares: I was one of the lucky ones who had the miracle cure effect. I would say that for most other people it is a much more gradual process, taking several months before getting a major improvement. There is lots of different advice on how best to start the diet, but my opinion is that it is best to start with as complete an eradication of starch as possible and then if it works and you feel the need, very slowly add a little back.

As to the cycling, I follow all the races extremely closely (I knock off work early every day the Tour de France is on for example!) I run cycling tours in Portugal with an ex-pro who runs a semi-pro race team, so I get plenty of exposure to racing through them. How about you give us José Azevedo back to lead Maia-Milanesa rather than stealing him to work as a slave for Lance?

Best of luck with the diet.
Charlie

Yahoo another bike nut!

No chance, you are not getting José Azevedo back. As much as Lance down plays the loss of Herras, I think that he is going to need all of the help he can to beat the Telekom team of gladiators! That is if Telekom's team dynamics don't get in the way of their performance. There are alot of big names on that team, lots of confussion about who to work for. Although I am ready for Lance's winning spree to finish, so Jan can get a little satisfaction, I think that it is a given for him this year. After all, it is "good for bussiness" for him to break a record. Do you agree?

I went on my first ride yesterday since I have started the diet. I rode about 45 miles and felt ok. A little sleepy feeling most of the way. I just wanted to get done rather than feeling like I could ride for hours. I think that this is me getting used to not having lots of simple carbs and retraining my body to use the more complex ones that I am eatting. I am usually in a lot of pain the next day after a ride however, this morning I feel good. I do not want to be overly optomistic however, it does suggest improvement. So, I will stick with the diet for a while. My first race is in early April. I hope that I am ready.

Do you have a web site for your bike tour company, I would love to check it out. I must admitt that I am not very farmiliar with Pourtgal. I have always imagined it to be like Spain, does that make you cringe? Are there mountains in Portugal? Please forgive my ignorance.

Perhaps you can give me some suggestions about what to eat. What is an average food day for you? If it is not too boring I would like to hear what it is exactly that you eat on an average day for your meals. I am eatting yoghurt with nuts and rasins for breakfast, an omlet for lunch and so far I have been eatting meat and salad for dinner. For snacks I am eatting nuts, dried fruit and freash fruit. It is ok for now but I fear that it will get boring pretty fast.

Cheers

Howard

Howard,
When I am out on my bike, I can go for about 1 hour 40 without eating, then I need to stop and eat something reasonably substantial. If I am on long ride I stop in a restaurant for lunch, otherwise it is just chocolate, fruit juice and fruit. (Incidentally, I have never bothered with glucose drinks, because I checked out the calorific values of normal orange juice and various sports drinks and OJ was higher and costs about 5% of the price).

A normal day for me would be bacon and eggs for breakfast with a pint of OJ, lunch would be cheese, ham, salami, fruit (sometimes a can of tuna with mayonaise), plus any left overs from the previous dinner and a can of coke and dinner would be grilled fish/chicken/beef/pork with a salad and large amounts of vegetables and half a bottle of wine if I've been a good boy that day. I supplement this with large amounts of chocolate and fruit thorughout the day. I never have had to worry about trace elements of starch in mayonaise or unripe bananas or whatever, since for me as long as I stear clear of the principal offenders, I am fine. Others have to be much more careful.

If I am going out on my bike or going for a run I drink a pint and a half of OJ (half a litre) and a couple of pieces of fruit about half an hour before I go. As for Portugal, it does have some mountains (about 2,000m) in the North and my cycling website is http://www.fcarvalho-ciclismo.com/fcc/index.htm (this site is brand new and it is not yet officically online, as a couple of parts are not functioning yet). I would be very interested to hear what you think of the site, as I am still playing with it at the moment.
Regards,
Charlie

Hello Charlie,

Thanks for the info. It is very helpful to discuss nutrition with someone who shares a similar life-style. I will check out the site soon and give you some feedback. What are your thoughts on fasting, the apple diet and or food allergy testing? Have you done any of them with sucess?

Cheers

Howard

Howard,
I have never had to do any of them as the diet on its own worked a miracle with me. There are plenty of others who did not get results with the diet alone, so you will have to find exactly what works for you - it is very clear that everyone reacts very differently to all these treatments, so there are no simple answers.
Best of luck,
Charlie

Got a further tip from the long distance swimmers for non-starch snacks - dried fruits, like prunes and apricots. They say it is for the fructose, but looking in my book they have a combination of glucose, fructose and sucrose.

DOCTOR: Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.
MACBETH: Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it.

Thanks,

I've been doing dried figs like the Frenchie bikers of yesteryear! They seem to do the trick.

Cheers

Howard