Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Paleo or Ketogenic Diet

Hello everyone,

So I was diagnosed with AS last October. I just did my third Humira injection last week. So far things have been good and I do feel like the Humira is helping. I have read all about how the food we eat can affect flare ups etc. and am struggling to figure that all out. I eat fairly healthy to begin with, but have been trying to reduce starchy foods and am finding it more difficult than I thought it would be. All the foods I love (and I have young kids too so they love these foods also) are starchy. It's not like I eat them that often (pizza, pasta, potatoes etc.), but I am finding it hard to cut starchy foods out completely.

Also, I have been weightlifting and am trying to bulk. In the past I would incorporate oats, rice and such to get the complex carbs I need to bulk; but all of those items are high in starch.

I have read about Paloe and Ketogenic diets. I don't know if I could do the Ketogenic because I think the once in a while that I do have starchy foods (listed above) it would kick me out of ketosis.

Does anyone else have experience with this two diets? How do you all deal with cutting such foods out?

Hi there. My partner has been diagnosed with as a year ago. He tried non starch diet which it helped but not as much as he expected. Then he tried paleo which again helped but bot as much. He then tried paleo autoimmune protocol diet and he is not in pain at all. He doesn't even take drugs. That diet helped him so much. We bought the paleo approach book which explains the diet(its different than the paleo.) he has been following paleo autoimmune protocol for months now and he didn't have a flare up so far. I am definitely suggest you give it a try.

Thank you so much! I just checked out Dr. Sarah Ballantyne's website. I think I will end up buying The Paleo Approach book and give it a go. Seems completely overwhelming though. No eggs, no dairy, etc. I have 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites every morning, not to mention milk and yogurt at some point in the day; and nuts etc. the list goes on.

Hi there
I totally understand what you are talking about. The thing with autoimmune protocol is that it is difficult to have snacks and you must get used to the idea that breakfast doesn't mean bacon and eggs(although you can eat bacon).
we experiment with a lot of diets before we found this one and the results were outstanding.I was a little sceptical at the beginning as with AIP you are allowed to have sweet potato taro and pumpkin but when we read the book everything are make sense.
So for example for breakfast my partner will have leftovers from the night before (meat and sweet potato or fish and sweet potato) or will cook bacon(be careful it has to be as pure as possible no sugars) and fried zuccini(always use olive oil to fry).Alternatively he will have smoothie(berries,coconut milk-the can - kale, cinnamon,turmeric ginger)
because he is trying not to lose weith he will always have half avocado with his salad. Also because you are not allowed beans he cannot have coffee so sometimes in the morning he will drnk coconut water. for snacks he will have 1-2 fruits (you have to be careful with the fructose the book explains everything)and some coconut chips.
Lunch and dinners: what we do we cook big portion of dinner(usually meat in the oven or bbq and sweet potato or fish or mince -no sause) I know it sounds boring but you can find good quick recipes here http://autoimmune-paleo.com/recipes/
Now Dr Sarah explains that you can reintroduce staff -like eggs, nuts, beans, dairy in stages. So it doesn't mean you will not eat eggs again in your life etc.
He is not on any drugs now as the diet worked. He uses supplements though (we got them form the book )which are multivitamins, digestive enzymes, curcumin(he used that one before as well) and magnesium.
It is a bit overwhelming but if you are organised with your food-cook more for lunch next day-you will be fine.

ChargersSB - thanks for this topic Im in a similar position to you and looking forward to the responses.

Andria - would you suggest getting the paleo approach book or the cookbook? Or both (they are expensive here). Does the book say to moderate the amount of red meat given the WHO concerns about it?

Hi there.
I definitely suggest the paleo approach book(order it from amazon it is cheaper than ebay i bought it from amazon for $25 Australiam dollars). It is a scientific book explained so simple for all of us to understand.
I don't have the cookbook i find recipes from the link I gave you above.
I am not sure if it does what it says basically is to eat meat fish and vegetables. In the end it says the vitamins and minerals every food has.
I strongly suggest you buy it. I am following it without having as and i can see a huge difference on mu body.
My partner who has as can finally walk and cough without in pain.

I tried no starch for 2 years and lost a lot of weight. I found it impossible to bulk however I was really eating just meat, green vege, fats and salads with lots of olive oil. If I did it again I would incorporate protein shakes with lots of coconut cream probably to boost calories.

A couple of years back I found I could tolerate natural starches from natural foods. So since then I eat more natural starchy foods like Potato, sweet potato, white rice, yam, pumpkin, bananas and added back a lot of weight (more muscle than fat) I'm no worse off pain wise that I was on no starch.
I think the main thing for me was to ditch wheat, vegetable oils and processed foods.

This is all great information and encouraging. I have not gotten around to buying the book yet, but I am definitely going to. I think I can deal with not eating the grains etc., but I think the hard part is the rest of my family doesn't eat this way. We all eat pretty healthy as it is. My wife and I use My Fitness Pal etc. and try to have our kids eat as healthy as possible. I am just thinking it will be hard to be so strict as we can't really be buying/fixing all separate foods/meals for me and then them. It would just be too overwhelming and costly. I have just not been eating rice if we have that (same with other starches) and serving myself more veggies/protein. I didn't know that sweet potatoes are okay...guess I just need to get on buying that book

I try to take in about 2500 calories (125g carbs, 188g protein, 139g fat). I usually have three protein drinks a day with milk, but I will probably switch to coconut milk.

2500 is what I aim for when bulking. I never counted calories when I was eating zero carb, but I did after the fact (when trying to figure out the possible cause of some problems I had on no starch) and found I was most likely under eating. About 1600-1800 calories per day I guesstimate whereas I need at least around 2000 per day to maintain.

The problem for me was eating high fat and high protein would kill my hunger after a main meal for 5-6 hours and I just didn't feel like eating any more.

Are you calculating your protein at grams x 4? I calculate those at grams x 3.

I read if you eat less carbs, you need more protein as some will be used for gluconeogensis. If you eat some carbs, you can get by with less protein as no need to convert protein to glucose.

I used My Fitness Pal for quite a while as well. But after a while of doing that you tend to learn roughly what the macro nutrients are on your plate just by looking at it.

On the Paleo Approach diet, you are permitted sweet potato, parsnip and pumpkin. But you shouldn't overdo it and should make sure you have plenty of variety in them.

No eggs or dairy of any kind (including whey and whey isolate). No nightshades or grains.

Coconut and avocado are permitted but in defined quantities, these can be increased after the first month if you aren't reactive to them.

Ive been having to work hard to hit 2000 calories and have lost some weight, but Im not having much fruit as it gives me IBS.

The diet is for a month, then you start reintroducing things. You need to do this slowly and systematically, but its not forever.