Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; carbs

For the last year and a half I have had problems with diarrhea, and when I started taking sulfasalazine in Sep, it went away. The deduction is that I have some kind of inflammatory bowel thing going on. The thing is that I cannot eat fruit. It gives me diarrhea. So if I was going to try the NSD what would I do for carbohydrates? I am a type 2 diabetic and need to have a steady but controlled amount of carbohydrates throughout the day. Does the NSD help with inflammatory bowel symptoms?

Perhaps you should read up on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which was formulated by Elaine Gottschall? She wrote a book called Breaking the Vicious Cycle, and there are a few SCD websites out there. The SCD diet is not quite as strict as NSD because certain types of starch (beans, squash) are allowed on the diet that aren't allowed on the strict NSD. Anyway, the SCD was formulated to deal with Crohn's disease. The book is a pretty good read if you want to know more about this sort of diet's effect on inflammatory bowel diseases in general.

Good luck! Personally, I do believe it would make a difference.

Your body can do just fine without any starches. There are lots of non-starchy food choices you can eat like a huge assortment of non-starchy vegetables.

Vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, green beans, brussel sprouts, etc) roasted in coconut oil.

Steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, cabbage, etc) with lots of organic unsalted butter, seasoned with grey sea salt.

Avocado - goes great with most protein, chicken, beef, turkey, pork, eggs

Thank you all for your kind replies. I am just having a hard time figuring out how to control my diabetes without both fruit and starches. I do not think it would turn out very well. I might be willing to tough it out for awhile if I thought the inflammatory bowel thing would subside on the NSD and then I could eat fruit again. A person can get along quite nicely without starches, but a person has to have carbohydrates in some form.

I don't know much about type II diabetes and the need for carbs. However, if you have insurance, does it allow you to see a nutritionist? Perhaps you could get some help there, though you'd have to convince them of the validity of the NSD, or the person would try to talk you out of it.

Karen

No matter what your actual medical condition, the environment of your GIT will be somewhat varied by the sulpha and the inflammatory action. All i would say is first try to heal and limit damage to your gut.
I am out of my depth here medically - these are just ideas and workarounds...

1. Does your body react to fruit because it is already damaged by negative reaction towards dairy or cereals?
2. Is there dysbiosis?
(that's a no-brainer so...
What is best action to achieve microbial balance?)
Mono-fasting with ?(need some help from type-2 people there), apple cider vinegar, aloe vera, l-glutamine, cabbage, cabbage juice, etc.
Remember sulpha is an antibacterial as well as anti-inflam.
3. Consider just eating rice in small doses and not much at nite. NSD may be too hard, try the LSD, SCD. Try to eat bananas or pretty well balanced carbs - NOT cereals, potato
4. Do not underestimate the actual physical damage to the gut and LGS. It is paramount.

So limit what you leave available for Kp. Limit what you make available for Ca, eating no fruit will do that anyway...
You probably are already (and desparately need to be anyway) very aware of your body reactions and connections so experiment lightly, talk it all over for feedback - as you are doing. Find the diabetics on KA.

Have a read of this - my emphasis

1: Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2008 Feb 14;128(4):443-5.Links

Comment in:
Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2008 Feb 14;128(4):445-6.
[Insulin-using woman with type 2 diabetes and weight problems][Article in Norwegian]


Hexeberg S, Lindberg FA.
Dr. Fedon Lindbergs Klinikk, Sjølyst Medisinske Senter, Karenslyst allé 16 D, 0278 Oslo. sofie.hexeberg@drlindbergs.com

A 61-year-old overweight woman had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypothyreosis. Treatment with antidiabetic and antihypertensive medication and thyroxine had been started. Blood sugar had been increasing despite medication and she had started using insulin. In 2003 she used 150 IE insulin per day. She tried hard to adhere to a recommended diet, but gradually became fatter, maximum weight was 120 kg. She started on a low carbohydrate diet on her own and lost 14 kg during 5 months. She had some hypoglycemic episodes and sought advice at Dr. Fedon Lindberg's Clinic. Her low carbohydrate diet was continued, endurance exercise was included, medication with metformin was started and during 8 months she was off insulin and showed much lower blood sugar values than before. She lost 14 kg during this period. She was motivated for loosing more weight and starter on a VLCD (very low caloric diet). She lost another 9 kg on this diet. She than started regular resistance training and her weight stabilized on 80 kg. Her HbA1c value has been reduced from 8.9 to 5.4% and her total/HDL cholesterol ratio has been reduced from 5.4 to 1.7. Her C-peptide value increased in the period when insulin was reduced, but is now reduced to 700 pmol/L. Micro-CRP has been reduced from 9.0 mg/L to 0.4 mg/L. With a low carbohydrate diet and exercise this woman no longer has diabetes or severe overweight. It is our opinion that many patients with type 2 diabetes can manage without medication (especially insulin) by reducing the intake of carbohydrates considerably.

PMID: 18309535 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

My understanding is that scientists have not found one single essential dietary carbohydrate for humans. Type II diabetes is essentially a symptom of the lifelong over-consumption of carbohydrates, and the failure of the bodies insulin system. The solution is so obvious – drastically reduce carbohydrate consumption (blood sugar levels will not go up much if you are not consuming carbs!). The ancestral diet of the human species was mostly low carb, and very low starch, and this is the healthiest diet for us. Fresh meat, eggs , fish and good helpings of non starchy vegetables. There is a substantial body of evidence showing that the increasing incidence of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, etc, etc, and of course AS are a direct result of our increasing reliance on dietary carbs (especially processed ones). So if it were me facing your predicament that is what I would do – cut out the carbs (trust me you won’t starve)

"cabbage, cabbage juice, etc.
Remember sulpha is an antibacterial as well as anti-inflam."

that's a good point. no wonder cabbage and brocoli are so good for my gastritis.

sue