Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; How you do get carbs ?

I am generally pretty good with staying starch free. I can eat starches with little or no effects for a week but if i keep it up for 2 or more weeks then you know the drill. Inflammation starts to build up.

Having said that, i am training for looong bike ride (180 miles in two days) I seem to be always falling short of energy. I need to carb load before long training days but meats and veggies don't cut it.

Does anyone feel the down side of starch free diet ?

i know nothing about endurance training but I thought carb loading was a myth, ie not necessary. I would have thought protein and fats would provide more sustained energy?

If I don't eat enough veggies I start feeling pretty yucky, maybe a low sugar thing. I will admit that there are days when I'm not prepared and I'm only eating spoon fulls of almond butter and hamburger patties and I can feel it. But a big bowl of veggies drenched in olive oil does me good.

Good luck on the bike ride- that is so inspiring even without having AS, but add spondy to it, wow!!

I've read about people doing crossfit and Paleo and feeling the need to increase starches. Some carbs are starchy: grains, potatoes, etc. They stick to your ribs, compared to carbs that are not starchy, like spinach...right?
So, if people are doing lots of workouts, they eat some sweet potato...that's what I read. I just think that seems more healthy than eating food made with grains that have been turned into flour.
But maybe for some people with AS that approach would lead to more pain.
You just have to see what works for you, I think.
I just wonder if instead of starch loading, you eat a sensible portion of sweet potatoes at each meal before and after your training, I wonder how that would feel?
You'll know best, and then share with us here okay?
Good luck with your training!! Tell us about the bike ride!!

Thanks for the input. I will be cycling along with thousands of other people for a fundraiser ride for Multiple Sclerosis. From Houston to Austin precisely.

Carb loading may be just a myth i am not quite sure. My boss is training for Ironman and he eats lots of carbs (grains, potatoes, rice, beans) and he is like an energizer bunny. On the other hand i am only eating meats and veggies.

I found out that foods like broccoli and raisins and certain drinks from sugar can have significant amount of carbs but in order to knock out 80-90 miles a day on a bike you need more complex carbs.

Who knows .. i will try different foods and see, all i know is that i can't eat starches for more than a few times a week or i start to flare up.

I try not to let AS run my life (everyones level of progression is different). I am fortunate enough that i can still exercise pretty heavily.

Will let you guys know how it goes.

Simpler carbs like honey and fructose just don't have the long burning energy. Meanwhile I can actually crash pretty badly on most fatty / high protein foods. So I was actually having real issues with energy levels..

I use amylopectin when I need to do lots of exercise AKA glutinous rice - which has no amylose starch!!! I try to avoid it at other times due to candida. For endurance and fighting fatigue nothing beats it as far as what I have seen.

Could try dates and other dried fruits I suppose..

Im also sporty and I lose weight with the NSD.
Thats a very bad side effect for me.

How can I get more carbs for more calories?

I hate losing weight and muscles

Goztepe and Boxer,

I ride a lot and I can manage fine doing a 200k ride on no starch. For a long ride I eat eggs, bacon, fruit and yoghurt before I go, then I take fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts and coconut cakes with me. If I am doing more than about 4 hours, then I will generally have to stop half way and eat something in a restaurant or buy something from a supermarket. The other thing I do is take electrolytes (like Nuun) for example, which gets you the important stuff from energy drinks to stop you cramping without the starch.

I generally drink half and half orange juice with water or coke with water.

The way I see it, complex carbs are just lots of simple carbs tied together and ultimately to get energy out of them, they need to be broken down into sugar. So on the NSD, you have to get energy more directly from monosacharides (sugar) and disacharides (like fructose which is fruit sugar). It means that you need to eat a lot more regularly than someone who can eat starch, so on the bike on a long ride I eat every half hour.

Regards,
Charlie

true, the difference is that the starch is slowly to digest and thus it makes it more proper for a sustained effort.

for those on NSD/LSD the best solution is to have more meals (even if they are smaller) in order to keep the blood glucose in check when they exercise.