Personally, I've enjoyed this thread. jroc has been quite clear in his opinions throughout and while the scientific stuff tends to make my eyes spin round, the overall take has been quite similar to my own. The diet works for some people, but I question the claims that kleb p and molecular mimicry are the root cause of all cases of AS.
Good, honest debate, I appreciate. It helps clarify when people can be dispassionate in stating their information and opinions. Personal attacks on John, or anyone, I'm not so happy about. Frankly, if you want to get into name calling and personality besmirching, please do so privately. I don't want to hear it.
pspondylitis, your comments tell me that you don't appreciate one very important thing; those hanging out in the starch area don't just 'believe' the diet works. It has worked for them. Please don't disrespect their very real results and experience. I don't subscribe to a fully no starch diet. Don't believe it's healthy overall. But I cannot deny that many people here have had extremely good and very real results by lowering or eliminating starches. That is not belief, as in Tinkerbell; it's verified by their own lives and pain levels.
And while KA may be the only place on the net that will talk about the diet openly and freely, instead of suppressing it the way other online forums have a tendency to do, the diet is not all that we are about here. It is one treatment option among many. Debated. Hashed over. Tried. Failed in some; succeeded in others. Just like any other treatment option that is discussed in detail and ad nauseum in other areas of KA. If you don't want to hear it, or if you want another viewpoint expressed, then don't go into the no starch area of the forum, and express your viewpoint here in the main forums. If you do a search, you'll find that this topic has been debated, talked over, discussed, argued about and at one point, threatened to tear KA apart. There are a great many dissenting opinions here when it comes to the diet, believe me. However, the one thing none of us at KA can get away from is that it is right that somewhere, someone should and must have the courage to stand up and say, "This treatment can help in some patients and is worth taking a serious look at!" KA does that as no place else does. If you find that a problem with this forum, well, I don't know what to say.
Hugs,
