Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Questions from a Newbie

Sorry if I'm dragging up old issues, but I'm not sure out of 185 pages of information, where I might find the answers to these questions. Hope you don't mind helping me out with a few questions. I'm new to the diet and nutrition end of this.

#1. Where does a carbjunkie such as myself, find the willpower to begin this diet?

#2. Should I be discussing this with my doctor before I begin? I'm curious about this because I was reading that you have to supplement for quite a bit of vitamins and minerals.

#3 When reading a food label on a packaged food item, what excately am I looking for? Starch isn't listed,so is it sugar content? Is there a certian number I'm looking for?What is considered high?

#4. I realize the list of ingredients lists flour, corn starch or rice, etc., but does it go by any other name, like as a filler of some sort?

I'm glad to read that there have been so much success with a change of diet and this is probably something I could really benefit from.

Thanks in advance
Marne

Hi, Marne and WELCOME:

We have all had these questions, and continually ask them of ourselves. I am the archtypal carbjunkie, now EX-vegetarian.

Quote:

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#1. Where does a carbjunkie such as myself, find the willpower to begin this diet?

#2. Should I be discussing this with my doctor before I begin? I'm curious about this because I was reading that you have to supplement for quite a bit of vitamins and minerals.

#3 When reading a food label on a packaged food item, what excately am I looking for? Starch isn't listed,so is it sugar content? Is there a certian number I'm looking for?What is considered high?

#4. I realize the list of ingredients lists flour, corn starch or rice, etc., but does it go by any other name, like as a filler of some sort?

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#1: I could not do this on willpower alone--it is RESULTS and making the choice to properly and effectively TREAT AS or roll the dice and lose yet again with drugs and doctors (the devils are in there, too). Perhaps willpower is an oversimplification but after you have been successful with this diet (and then fallen off the wagon a couple of times while "experimenting"), you will understand that, for those of us with AS, starch--especially REFINED starch--is poison.

A bad relationship, no matter how many "I'M SORRYs" we hear, is still a bad relationship and no matter how attractive that person can be, most of us will eventually either be conditioned not to return to them or they will certainly consume and kill us--one way or another. That is how it is with starch, and there is no drug that can undo the damage that could have--and should have--been avoided in the first place.

#2: NO! (most) Doctors don't know SH*&$^ from Shinola when it comes to DIET in the first place. Given half a chance they will kill you (quote from Dr. wallach) and that goes double for anyone with AS. The only vitamins you could miss out on are Bcomplex--and that means that you were previously eating a LOT of WHOLE GRAINS. We take vitamins (and other supplements) because they are good to help repair our damaged intestinal tracts, but MOST STARCHES are entirely devoid of anything but empty calories.

#3: Food labels are difficult. Many additives, like guar gum, are starchy and will cause a flare. Maltodextrin, modified food starch, caramel, soya, and a few other things are common baddies. It is confusing because 'high fructose corn syrup' is really just a sugar but sounds dangerous. Although we do not like this product because it could be a problem in very large quantities, it is usually quite safe. The thing about the details: Most additives clock in at just under 2%, which is just about the threshhold for any refined foods and unrefined foods should be kept under about 5% at first (some of us can eventually eat a portion of rice with a small meal, but if that same rice were turned into rice flour it could cause a serious flare).

#4: Things like carrageenan, agar, casein and milk solids (unless allergic to this and it should be avoided on strict NSD at first, then later 'experimented' with), are often safe, but method of preparation is also important. Eating mixtures of things with oils and fats can be quite aggravating, whereas separately they might not be so bad. Fry oils--denatured fats--are highly discouraged because they can cause an otherwise harmless food to incite a flare. It takes some time to get acquainted with what we can and cannot eat, but soon enough the diet is straightened out and LIFE becomes easier and eating becomes less of a big deal. EAT TO LIVE.

Best to You,
John

Boy, Do I have alot to learn.

My version:

1. If you're in enough physical discomfort from eating itself this isn't a problem, esp. if you then start eating more of what is good food. Carbohydrate "cravings" suggest an imbalance, anyway.

2. You should be supplementing with at least the minimum of a mulitvitamin, a B-complex, and at least 1000 to 1200 mg of calcium, and some magnesium anyway, whether or not you are on the diet.
This is a bone mass sucking disease in its later phases. Low blood levels of calcium cause the kidneys, which regulate these levels, to rob your bones. Bone also remodels constantly, you want your remodeling project to have the right supply of raw materials. You also need magnesium to be able to use the calcium, and vitamin D, and you will need the B complex and multi vits to support other functions.

Reading labels of supplements to avoid starch is important. Tums are NOT a good source of supplemental calcium because they can lead to a too high level of bicarbonate in the blood.

If you are pregnant, this is not your diet and you will need to eat carbohydrates. Otherwise, as long as you are being careful to get enough protein, vegetables, fruit, and fats, there is no reason you can't function on the diet. You increase the protein and (good) fat to replace the carbohydrates, and fruits and vegetables also provide some.

3. There are not that many manufactured food items that come in "packages" that you will want to eat because manufacturers now use so much grain filler byproduct.

Here's a link to an older thread where I wrote a shorter version of John's (Dragronslayer's) original food categories list. This thread also has a link to Bilko's list "the starch content of foods" and Tim's list of books that are interesting to read.
https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=239908&page=0&vc=1&PHPSESSID=#Post239908

Here's a link to another site about the specific carbohydrate diet, which has a LOT of recipes that can be used:
http://www.scdiet.org/2recipes/default.html

Here's a link to some almond meal bread recipes I adapted from the above:
https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showthr...SID=#Post214104

And the pancake/flatbread:
https://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=264018&page=0&vc=1

Thank you for the links and information.
Funny, I had just written out the almond bread and pancake recipes this morning.

Oh, and Thanks John for the information as well.

Just finding alot of this overwhelming I guess. I have never talked about/with/to anyone about changing my diet as a form of treatment.
And if I'm going to do this I want to do it right.

Hi. I recently spoke to my daughter's dietician/nutrionist at Vancouver's Children's Hospital and told her all about my NSD as I was concerned about it rubbing off on my almost 4 year old daughter, Elisabeth, who has Cystic Fibrosis [and needs to eat alot!]. Barb, the dietician was actually very supportive of the NSD!! The only thing she cautioned me about was B vitamins, she felt I should be supplementing with B vitamins, as well as calcium [I have a liver condition that needs extra calcium in order to stave off osteoporosis].

Don't worry too much about "how to do this NSD"! Just go to the store buy some of your favorite fruits and veggies, and get started! You will probably find, like others have said, that you will shy away from any and all processed foods as there is so much CRAP in them and it is so much easier to make our own!

I am a carb-junkie as well, my favourite carb-craving is peanut butter toast! I have been NSD, basically, except for a few falls off the wagon, since Sept 2006, and I am sure I will always be NSD.

If I had to rely on my 'willpower' to do NSD I would not have made it past the first week!! You will find that when the diet starts working for you and your pain is decreased then when you cheat and your pain increases it is much easier to continue on the NSD than off of it. I hope this rambling makes some sort of sense!!

Cheers,
Rita

James, 12, Adrian, 10, Elisabeth, 3, my babies!

Hi there Marne and welcome,

I would suggest buying Carol Sinclair's book The IBS Low Starch Diet (she has IBS and also AS). You can buy it online. It was extremely helpful for my husband Jon and I when he first started the diet as it spells out exactly what you can and can't eat. It also explains how you can quickly and easily find out if a food is starchy by testing it with iodine which you can buy at the pharmacy/drugstore.

1) Once you start to see results this diet is easy to stick to. Jon was the biggest junk food person ever and LOVES food so I never thought he would go for this diet. But the pain made him desperate and he was willing to try it. Once he started to see results there was no going back. And the occassional accidental slip-up soon bought the pain back and reminded him why he was doing this "crazy" diet.

2) Doctors will scoff in your face so forget about it. Jon's rhuemy did and Jon did the diet despite that and now it's been 3 years and he hasn't gone back to the doc coz he doesn't need him or his toxic meds coz he's in remission. And this is one of the most healthiest diets you can go on - full of unprocessed natural foods like fruit and vegies, meat & eggs. Jon's health (and weight) have never been better.

Don't worry about all the supplements - except the basics of a B vitamin complex and calcium/magnesium complex (Solgar is a reliable starch free brand). The others can be added later if you want them but they are not compulsory. My hubby just sticks with the basics as it can be tricky getting starch-free supplements so they can do more damage than good if you're not careful. Just start the diet first and you can worry about that stuff later.

3) As for what is considered high or low starch.... well that can be an individual thing and depends on your own starch tolerance level. Some people can achieve remission of their AS and still eat a small amount of starch. Others are more sensitive and cannot have ANY and even small amounts will inhibit their progress and make the diet ineffective (like Jon). I would suggest going very strict NO starch rather than LOW starch at first as you will make faster progress. You can always experiment later.

4) When reading packet labels you can see the carbohydrate content - usually listed as total carbs and then also how much of that is sugar. Carbs are made up of starch, sugar and fibre. So if the total carbs is the same as the amount of sugar then there is no starch. If the total carbs is more than the amount of sugar then the difference is starch and possibly fibre (depending on what the product is).

Starchy additives to look out for in processed foods are anything labelled thickener or stabilizer or with a number in the 1400 range. See this link

Starchy Additives

Good Luck and keep the questions coming.
Chelsea

Hi dear friend and very welcome to NSD kickAsers. Let me give some comments on your questions:

1. If you have not already, I think you should give NSD a try for a while. I guess the problem is more to find the will power to continue it in the long run. Either you will, like me, find so amazing results so that you never again want to eat any starch. Or possibly it does not work for you, we are all different, and then it is no point doing the diet if it does not work.
But a warning: do not chock your body too much by suddenly start 100% NSD. It is a HUGE change for the body to stop being poisoned by starch.

2. You might find vitamin B and C useful with NSD...

3. The best thing is to buy only things which does not need any labels, since they have not been processed. If there are labels, I always avoids maltodextrin, sugar, MSG (here in Sweden the number is E620). Most things are loaded with starch, e.g. sausages are full of potato and flour. Many "light" things means that they have replaced good fat with bad starch.

Good luck on the jorney Marne!!!
Andreas

Hi Marne,

Unfortunately I am not on the NSD...but I just wanted to write and say "hi" and "welcome"!!

All the best,

Trina