Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Weight gain

The only one thing I have that is not usual with this illness is weight gain

I believe I gained weight because when i first told my doctor i had IBS he put me on a high carb low fat diet. I piled the pounds on

I have lost a fair amout of weight now, on my ketogenic diet but in regards to the illness, as it progressed generally i became heavier not lighter

Has this happened to anybody else?

Love Joanne

Yep
My first signs were exhaustion though my appetite was still good
Too tired to exercise!
and took comfort in the wrong kind of chocolate:-)
Changed many things and losing weight

the only thing ive heard is that ketogenic can be tough on kidneys, could be very dangerous. do you think youre retaining water b/c of poor kidney function?

my weight gain, all in my midsection, is due to insulin resistance, prediabetes. staying away from sugar and complex carbs helps me a lot. not related to my arthritis, just another separate genetic disease.

I know thousands of people on ketogenic diets, not one of them has developed kidney trouble. In fact some folk that had kidney stones when they first came on the diet now no longer have them. But i really do not have any intention of promoting the ketogeic diet here

I genuinely respect the work of Carol Sinclair and Dr Enbriger. I believe they are correct when they say it is starch that the Klebsiella bacteria is living off and I also accept the arguement about the immune system reacting due to the similarities between the bacteria and the HLA-B27 gene. This is why i will not be eating any more starch and i will also be looking into the antibiotic treatments and any other treatments available

My concern with sugar is not related in any way with this research. My concern with sugar is to do with the fact that i am hypoglycemic and pre-diabetic, plus I have suffered from candiditis and i also have other conditions that have been associated with even moderate intake of sugar. fibromyalgia, it is often claimed is related to sugar intake, but i do ot think this theory has been proven

I will not be eating sugar. I will continue to limit my fructose intake and lactose intake. I do not believe that my body needs more than 30g of carb per day, even in a healthy person, I do not believe thay need more that 60g to 90g of carbohydrate. And i do think that the body can easily survive on less than 5g of carbs per day

I realise my ideas do not tie in with what Carol Sinclair has been adcvocating nor what Dr Ebringer has been promoting, but for me I am certain that a very low intake of sugar, and now starch is the best way for me to proceed

I know this is radical and for this reason i want anybody that is reading this post to know i am not trying to promote this idea. Everybody here has a right to eat as much carbohydrate as you feel is right, and if you do feel that the amount Carol and Dr Ebringer advise is correct I will not argue with this because i do think it is important that folk do what is best for them

What i will say is for myself it is not just about the sugar, or the starch or even the carbs. If I am in ketosis I am able to live my life without any chemical medication. the ketosis creates a climate of calmness within me which not only reduces my pain to a level where i can cope without the poisonous drugs the medics had me on. It also stops me craving sugar, and in turn starch. whilst in ketosis I have no desire what so ever for any carbohydrate food. If i eat sugar i then crave starch and this will mean i have to contstantly resist this pull. with no desire it then becomes incredibly easy for me not to eat starch. And the ketosis also induces more positive thoughts in my mind and a clearer head where i can think. all the cravings i used to have for cigarettes, sugar starch and so on made me feel very anxious and worried where as now 90% of the time i am at peace with myself. And because there is never any muscle loss only muscle building when i am in ketosis, I now have no muscle loss which is important because I need strong muscles to cope with the extra demands my body is making because my illness is affecting me so much.

Eating very high fat moderate protein, extremely low carb is easy for me, and if I change this and try to raise my carb level i will not have the simplicity i have now

I do understand why Carol and Dr Ebringer encouraged the 50g to 100g carb intake. It was to maximise the level of vitamis minerals and to enable the diet to be accessable to everybody. My diet can not easily be followed by other people but i have managed to optimise my nutrition by ensuring i only eat organic, and often raw foods.

What i will say is that I do not think that being on a ketogenic diet is really in contradition to the main principles of the low starch diet. The low starch or no starch can very easily be achieved with the ketogenic diet. I find the ketogenic diet very very easy to do, but a lot of folk do not. Many people cannot stomach the high level of fat and many do not like the idea of only eating natural food, and others do not like the idea of eating meat every day, and others, want to eat carbohydrate because they like it

I know this and this is why i do not promte the diet to other people. It is something i am doing but i always expect other people not to want to do it

I am now just glad i can easily reduce my starch. I am currently studying how this will alter my mineral and vitamin intake and i will alter my diet to ensure i have optimal nutrition.

it is good to know others here are doing fine whilst eating more carbs than me, because although both my children are on low carb diets, because their health is sigificantly better than mine they are able to tolerate more carbohydrate than me. Both eat about 60g per day

I am obviously concerend that they could carry the gene and if they do, it has crossed my mind whether or not it would be a good idea for them to eliminate starch now, even before they show symptoms. but maybe this is something i should look at later, once i have my own results and once I am clearer about the actions i must now take because i am certain their will be more than just worrying about what i am eating to be concerned about

Honestly i can not say this any clearer, I am so happy have have found out that it is the starch that is provoking my symptoms and if anybody asks me what i think the best diet for Ankylosing Sponylitis is i Will tell them to but Carols Book

Love and stuff joanne

Each of us has to find and live with the diet that works best for them. I really liked being on the Atkins diet. I lost lots of weight and I felt great. Unfortunately, I have a family of 6 and we couldn't afford for everyone to have as much protein as I was trying to eat. A high protein diet is very expensive. I found that it was necessary to stretch out whatever meat, eggs & cheese that we could afford with lots of rice, pasta and potatoes. I try to provide lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. I have a large garden and I freeze, dehydrate and can as much as possible. I do not give them much in the way of sweets, I use fruit for many of our deserts.

The truth is that the low/no starch diet is a luxury that most families cannot afford.

Donna

I have heard of people managing to do it by doing really big bulk purchases of otherwise expensive meats and sea food from whole-salers. Some shop at Costco for similar effect. Not having enough space or money to invest in a big freezer would rule out that strategy though.

My own food costs for a very-low-starch diet are not real high right now even without those measures. My main meat is homemade turkey soup, and one turkey breast makes enough soup for about a week. I also eat lots of homemade lactose-free yogurt, which ends up costing less than normal store-bought yogurt (about 50 cents per cup). I do happen to be really lucky when it comes to eggs, because I have gotten a lot of wonderful fresh eggs from friends who have pet chickens!!

One more point to consider -- I bet your family would approve of spending more on your food than for the others, since having you feeling better benefits the whole family!

Wow, I was just talking about that a minute ago to someone else. Except I was only referring to my limited expenses for this family of 2 though lol.

Technically, only one of you needs to be on the low-starch diet right? So you could do the Jack Sprat thing, eat the hamburger while your wife eats the bun and fries

On a more serious note -- I've been really happy with how the homemade turkey soup has been turning out. Assuming you can get hold of uncooked turkey breasts or small turkeys, soup is a good way to stretch the meat out for a good number of meals.

Hi SJLC,
lol.
Actually, what I was referring to was accidentally buying starchy foods and having to pitch them. Such as a bag of apples, or a bunch of some other under-ripe produce.

My wife can survive on pasta alone if she wanted to... so she will not eat hardly any fruits and vegetables, even to prevent them from being thrown away. Most fresh produce doesn't have a long shelf life too, so they start to get icky in a matter of a few days, then end up getting pitched. Most of her must have foods are things I'm not supposed to eat. This is where it get starts getting expensive. The other expensive things are almonds, berries, organic, etc. Low starch dieting is not a problem with expenses though. (She also doesn't seem to want me to diet for some reason)

Now if the supermarket would let me iodine test the foods before purchasing them, it would then suddenly seem cheaper lol.

By the way, how do you not get tired of eating the turkey soup all week long? I have some difficulty with repetitive eating.