Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; taking it to a new level, starving and need help!

hello everyone
i have been trying a low starch diet for a few months now with no good results. i took a month off work to try and stabilize my health, and it has only gotten worse, i am supposed to be returning to work next week and am very nervous.. i feel awful right now.
i just ended my second juice fast, this one only lasted 2 1/2 days because i felt so awful (extremely weak) and starving i felt like something might be wrong, so i made bone broth, ate some of the chicken in it.. and a salad with olive oil n lemon.. also had a few grapes, mulberries and coconut which i tested with iodine to be safe.
i just started testing with iodine yesterday for the first time.. apparently a lot of the food (fruits) i had been eating and juicing with were starchy because they turned black.
my plan was to do this fast and start introducing foods slowly.. one at a time and i already failed at that.
i feel really frustrated right now because i dont know what to eat.. i dont know how to introduce foods into my diet slow enough so that i dont feel like im starving. my energy is sooo low i have barely gotten out of bed for four days, and my pain level is on the rise. i feel fluish, but with no mucus like symptoms..??
there is a lot of different approaches on here as to how to do this, and i am wondering if you all could be as detailed as possible in your advice for me around how i might be able to figure this out, and go from where i am at currently?
i dont think i should start fasting again as i have already done it twice in the past three weeks..
by taking it to the next level, i mean i am willing to test all the food i eat with iodine (which i was previosly very resistant too) and i want to try to incorporate foods slowly but i just have no idea what to eat.. and since i already feel like crap i am not sure how this is going to work?
i have such respect for you all who have been through this and stuck with it until it worked for you. i feel so exhausted by this.. you all seem to be the only ones who know anything about this process, so im sure you understand how lonely and frustrating it can be.
i also take synthroid which i know contains starch, but i can not stop taking it, and dont have the money to go to compound pharmacy.. i really hope this wont negate my no starch attempt?

so i guess i am asking if you all have any detailed advice about a meal plan where i dont feel like im starving and that might enable me to find out my trigger foods? and is it possible to do that in the midst of feeling like crap? i keep trying to come up with plans on my own, but i have failed thus far and i am not sure who else to ask for help.

if you have read this much, thank you for listening.

kelly

Kelly,

I am no expert but I would stop the juice fasts and just stick to the safe foods on the AS food guide for now (menu on left), testing for starch as well as you have found depending on storage etc safe foods can still be starchy. Then if that begins to work for you I would then gradually add some of the fringe foods.

You need to get some energy back so use good fats such as extra virgin olive oil on salads etc. Nuts and seeds too will help give you energy.

I eat lots of salads and also things like raw grated courgette (zuchini) and carrot which I think is ok for me if I dont eat it cooked and herbs. I often add something like walnuts to the salad and some apple cider vinegar too with the oil.

If I have cooked veggies I only cook them lightly so they are 'al dente'

Meats I would stick to more chicken and fish as red meat can be inflammatory. Likewise maybe avoid nightshades such as tomatoes and pepper to start with.

My breakfasts tend to be a green juice made from three from these kelp/cucumber/celery/fennel/lettuce/parsley/coriander plus some apples and maybe a dash of lemon. If I cant have juice then I have 'safe' fruit.

I try and last till lunch but if I am hungry I will have some paleo bread (www.elanaspantry.com) as a snack or BettyRawkers apple cinnamon rolls (in the recipe section) or some apples/fruit.

Lunch is usually a large salad sometimes with a boiled egg or smoked salmon and occasionaly some hard cheese. I also make quiches using pulp from the juicer and some nuts and seeds for the base and then eggs plus onions etc for the filling.

I also have started making 'raw' onion bread in the dehydrator (can use oven on low setting) again linked from one of BettyRawkers posts. I am actually beginning to prefer this to baked 'bread' alternatives.

Tea is more complicated as I have the family to take into account. At this time of year it is often a salad again trying to use different ingredients to lunch with omelette or some meat/homemade burgers/fish or just veggies and a homemade sauce.


I make soups using veggies and homemade stock or bone broth which we have more in winter.

For treats I bake using coconut flour and almond flour but try not to over do it (fail miserably most of the time)

Drinks wise I just have herbal teas or homemade juice.

I am still on a learning curve over one year in and like you find it hard to work out trigger foods (still not got there). I have worked out that I should avoid sugar more so than cheese (fruit is ok in moderation) however I am not very successful at it.

I fasted a few weeks ago starting from a bug and went from not eating for three days to a juice fast for two days. I stopped because I just had no energy though wasn't starving. After starting eating again I did recover fairly quickly so hopefully you will be able to cope with work.

It maybe that the diet wont work for you or you need to do go the antibiotic route before it does. We are all different so it is no easy thing to determine your own route.

If you search through previous posts and I think in the success stories there are posts of what people eat from day to day for it to work for them.

Hope you are feeling better soon x

Ok so this sux but basically all this time you’ve been eating starch so you have to start from scratch again. It took 3 months for my husband Jon and me to figure out what was and wasn’t starchy and what he could and couldn’t tolerate – and this was while testing everything with iodine. So now that you are testing you are on the right track.

Grumpyally's advice above is great!

Take the meds that you need – that small amount of starch shouldn’t inhibit your progress. Jon took starchy NSAIDS for the first 9 months while on the NSD and still made progress. Just try and get rid of the other sources of starch.

I would avoid any supplements at this stage and probiotics in capsule/tablet form as they can be sources of starch and also probiotics can cause flares (always did for Jon). Something you can add in later once you’re stable and able to experiment.

Since you are just at the start of the diet I don’t recommend going crazy and cutting out all kinds of other food groups in a desperate bid to get better faster. I think you should still eat fruit, eggs & moderate amounts of sugar and see how you go from there. I’m not sure how you are with dairy but for Jon he needed to cut that out. He still made progress on the NSD with dairy but for him he made more progress when he cut out dairy too except for butter and small amounts of hard cheeses. He is now able to tolerate yoghurt too – check ingredients for added starch.

If you buy anything processed like mayo/sauces etc check the ingredients for starchy thickeners and always iodine test to be sure. Here’s a list of starch additives: http://www.starch.dk/isi/applic/E-numbers.htm . Basically any thickener with a number in the 1400 range next to it is a starch.

Despite what anyone here says they can eat – if you test it with iodine and it shows starch then for heaven’s sake don’t eat it! You can experiment with stuff later – right now just go for no starch.


Ok so this is Jon’s typical diet:

Breakfast: eggs in some form or another, slice of coconut flour loaf toasted with honey or jam, coconut flour pancakes with pure maple syrup.

Snacks: grapes, coconut flour loaf or muffins etc, chocolate, yoghurt, boiled eggs

Lunch: fresh salad with chicken, eggs and balsamic vinegar and olive oil, coleslaw with starch free mayo and little bit of cheese, dinner left overs, frittata/quiche.

Dinner: stirfry with meat and safe veges for us (broccoli, cabbage, shanghai bok choy, celery, asparagus, white button mushrooms, spinach, silverbeet/swiss chard, onions, spring onions), roast meat with steam veg, scotch eggs coated in coconut flour rather than breadcrumbs, fish crumbed in coconut flour and shallow fried, rissoles/meatballs and steamed veg.


Hope that helps.

Another thing to try in the near future could be a food sensitivity test, as some people are quite intolerant of cow milk and/or egg whites. The test helps you tell whether skipping dairy will help or would be an unneeded extra restriction.

http://www.vrp.com/test-kits/food-allergy-general

Note even if you're not sensitive to dairy protein, it can help to limit types of milk products to those low in lactose -- hard cheeses, sour cream (starch free), or pre-treated lactase milk would be good choices.

kelly, i can just say, i KNOW what you're going through and how frustrating this is. i have had a difficult time deciding what to eat. i just started a new job that is driving around all day..i've tried my hardest to take salads every day but it's been a huge challenge. i am so tired by the time i get home. i've gotten discouraged just as you have..you are not alone!! just remember the flare will pass and you'll get some energy to regroup..our only choice. wishing you the best as you head back to work.