Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; OOPS - New NSD dieter woes

I am new to the diet - on my third day now and I keep finding myself putting things in my mouth that I shouldn't have! For example this morning while pouring my daughter's cereal I found myself sampling it out of the box! Then I thought "OH! I can't have this!" I'm sure a tiny bit of starch won't hurt me but it is hard to put so much conscious effort into it. I am bound and determined though because after just two days on the diet I am already feeling better and I even slept until 10 am this morning!!! I haven't done that in years! I know it sounds hard to believe that two days on the diet can do this but I was a starch junkie and cutting out the starch is like cleansing my system. It could be related to other factors as well but so far I'm impressed and don't feel deprived. I have tried the no carb diet and felt very deprived but if I can have fruit and a little sugar I think I'll be just fine!

Anyway if any of you have any tips for me I would appreciate the help. Especially how did you keep the no starch rule first and foremost in your mind? It is something you have to think about constantly!


Amy Ediger

Hi Amy,

Congrats on starting the diet. I believe that eating healthy can make a difference and that LSD/NSD can make even a bigger difference. But it does take time and energy.

For me it is easier with the starch, I am single and live alone. Therefore, when I grocery shop I buy only the foods without starch so the tempation does not exist within my household. Your situation is probably more difficult, maybe others can help. I believe conditioning the mind may be the answer, that is what I have had to do at restaurants.... remember to avoid starch when ordering from the menu. I end up with modifying orders often (2nd helping of veggies rather than potatoes, french fries or rice etc...)

That said, I am actually LSD, I do allow myself brown rice every morning. But I also take a probiotic that has been working wonderfully for me and I do not have any of the morning stiffness associated with eating the starch (I slept until 10am this morning as well, awesome feeling ).

I eat a lot of fruits and vegatables (not bananas, corn or legumes.... all starchy) and try to avoid processed/canned foods as much as possible. For snacks I love raisons, nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, limited sunflower), fresh or frozen fruit, cheese and dried fruit.

Since this diet my AS is controllable, my blood pressure has dropped 20 points and my skin and hair feel softer.

Good luck with the diet, keep coming back with questions or for support.

Tim

"I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man who had no feet" - Indian Proverb

Hi,

I'm single, too, so forbidden food is not a problem (except for Kitten Chow, which really doesn't tempt me).

However, I just want to ask you if you're sure that a tiny bit is okay and won't hurt you??? It looks like for many of us, it isn't quantity, it's the type of starch. I can do beans and rice, but absolutely NO wheat, corn, oats, or potatoes. (In additions to pain and inflammation, I get an arrythmia from gluten, so if I literally eat even a bit of something, within 15 minutes the tachycardia (P.A.T.) kicks in, and lasts for about 24 hours. No cardiologist could ever figure this out, so I had to. Took me over a year of trial and error to find out what it was. It had gotten so bad that even the beta blockers and other drugs wouldn't stop it. I was blacking out at times it was so bad. Now I don't have to take any beta blockers or anything!!!)

So that's always been my proof (for over 10 years since the arrythmia began) that quantity doesn't matter, but it's just the type of food. It's your life -- I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do, but I think you might want to consider this. If this is the case for you as it is for me, there's probably no point in doing the diet at all if you have little Bites, Licks, and Tastes (I call them BLTs!!) here and there.

Maybe make yourself a big ziploc bag of "gorp" and leave a bit of it out in a bowl? I put in raisins, almonds, hazlenuts, dried apricots, craisins, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and so on. It might even be a visual reminder through out the day that you are eating differently now?

Good luck,

Patty



Sunset, Dec 27th, 5:00, and 5:10 p.m.

Hello, Amy:

NSD is a long and personal way and you will must to walk over with patience. Searching on posts of NSD forum is very important for finding informations about.

Also I have two children, now 14 and 12, and I think for us is essential to talk about father's or mothers disease and share problems and efforts: we have one big problem for life (and thereby all our family has this problems) and this serious therapy (our diet) must be shared also on the family.

Talk about starch with children (althoug they are very young) and husband, if you make iodine test make it within family, share improvements, share also failures, hesitations, etc.

Recently knew one fellow basque AS sufferer who started his diet... after divorce! For this man, different meals and diet was one problem more with his wife. And started to improve... after divorce. At home, I told about that with my family, because is so sad...

If you have complicity of you family, all may be easier. And more funny. Wellcome to the gang .

Pello

Hi Amy,

Another NSD/LSDer was kind enough to PM me and let me know sunflower seeds and pecans do contain some starch. It is more difficult for me to judge now that I take my probiotic and I do not perform the iodine test as some do.

I could easily tell before my probiotic if I ate something with starch, 1-2 hours after eating I would get the low back pain. So from that time period I basically know what I can and can not eat to with the diet. But I have been bringing more foods back into my diet as I feel better. I will probably trial beans shortly as it seems to be a "safer" starchy food.

Two good books for you that I used early on as well as others at this site:

The IBS Starch Free Diet - Carol Sinclair
Breaking the Vicious Cycle - Elaine Gottschall

Take care,

Tim

"I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man who had no feet" - Indian Proverb

Hi Amy, like many of the people who have had success on the diet, it was much more effective when i rejected absolutely every little temptation - may be a bit like AA when the first little drink leads to a much bigger one so abstinence is the only short term cure.
I had nearly three years of limited success on low starch, but still needed pills and still got iritis. No more eye inflamation since stopping starch completely. No more medications since i fine-tuned my "must not eats". Wheat is at the top of the list and the others seem similar for most of us, but some personal - read Carol Sinclair for that.

Like many others i now find that i can eat some rice.
After a few months on a strict regime it seems OK to re-introduce some of the more easily digestible starches, but not to our previous excesses!
Today i made and ate some yummie coconut/arrowroot/almond meal cookies and will post recipe when i perfect it and ensure it does no damage (to me).
As another single person i realize how it is easier for me than someone feeding spouse and kids, but hang in there, it is worth it - as you may have already discovered.
Good luck!

Ted
proAS_KickAS

Amy, you will be conscious of making the effort of self discipline now, but in time it becomes a habit. Now I find walking past aisle after aisle of starchy foods in supermarkets just an irritation.

Now my charms are all o'ethrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint.

Edited by bilko on 01/06/03 10:40 AM (server time).