Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Is the NSD gospel?

Hi Everyone
I would like to know if the no starch diet is gospel for everyone in this Kick AS community? I have been doing the NSD for about a year now and was doing better for a while. The last two months have been hell and I don't need to get into details because you know the pain it brings. I can do no starch, as long as I know it will work for me. It is frustrating not knowing if you are on the right track. Please share with me your thoughts.
Hugs Annette

i think it depends on who you talk to.

when i developed gastritis (and IBS) in 1993, i kept a food / symptoms diary and discovered the foods that made me better and worse.

fast forward to 2010.......had blood work done and discovered the foods that i was sensitive to.

Hi, Annette:

Gospel, well it has been "good news" for many people, but if in doing it for one year You have not had substantial improvements, there are other things going on such as potential contamination of food with starches or You could have had dysbiosis or otherwise long-standing AS as was my own case. And the NSD did not work so well for me for a very long time--until I combined it with antibiotics and after a couple of years I can avoid all symptoms using diet along; it was not so at first.

If You keep good track of Your foods and post them in the NSD Forum, You might have some responses by people who know much more about which specific foods are "borderline" than myself (like Kiwi).

HEALTH,
John

The answer to your question is no it is not gospel to all on here and many have tried it and failed, probably for a lot of reasons, to find their answer to AS in diet. For others it seems to really help.

The Mimicry idea is not universally accepted on this board either

Not for me. The diet had no effect on my pain level.

For me, I was diagnosed diabetic and I then went on a strict low-carb diet and I actually had my symptoms worsen. So, for me, it did not work as intended.

Low starch has some results for me. No starch isn't significantly better so I just stick with the far easier low starch.

NSD has made it possible for me to function and continue working at my job. The biologics gave me nerve damage, so they are not an option. Some of us are more sensitive to starch than others, and for us it takes a lot of discipline to avoid any pain. A strict NSD is just too difficult for many of those who try. I went to a frozen yogurt eatery with my kids the other night, knowing that I was taking a chance because I did not fully know what was in the yogurt. Sure enough, I suffered a lot the next two days. Very slight slip-ups may make you think the NSD doesn't work. It's not for everyone, but it is worth the try.

and for some people it may not work at all regardless of how strict they are. I refuse believe that the many who fail just did not try hard enough. (although probably true for some).

I believe for many a combo of Diet and Meds is the proper way to treat AS and many cannot do it with just diet alone regardless of how strict they are.

If I stayed away from starch and dairy I was pain free. I question the scientific explanation for how it works with HLA-B27 since I don't have the gene, but it still works regardless. It's pretty difficult to cut both out but I can easily do without the starch as long as I have a bit of dairy and caffeine for energy.