Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Feel malnourished without wheat on long term NSD

My apologies if this has already been discussed - I can't find a thread on it. I have been on NSD for over 2 years. The first 1.5 years I did ok. My AS improved dramatically! But in the last six months I have been craving foods, and when I eat bread, my cravings go away for a while. The first time I ate bread, it fixed everything and I felt better for two weeks, just from two slices of it. Now when I eat bread, the positive effects only last for about 4 days.

If I don't eat bread, at first I just feel like I have low blood sugar and crave sweet/creamy food. After a day or so, I become quite desperate for food, feeling very unsatisfied even after a big meal like a pork roast. If I don't eat bread at that stage, I become vague, my brain won't work properly, and I lose motivation. Within a day of that if I still don't eat any bread, I become miserably depressed, and have to give up everything and go to bed. And within hours of that, if I still don't eat bread, I start to sweat, get a fever, diarrhoea, headache, dizziness and generally feel extremely ill. At any point if I eat bread I start to turn these symptoms around.

I can't fix the above problem by eating spelt, or rice, or potatoes or any other starch. When I eat bread, while it fixes the above problems, it definitely makes my AS worse, whereas when I'm starch-free I feel pretty good AS-wise.

My usual diet: almonds, sesame seeds, desiccated coconut, fermented lactose-free cream & milk, and fruit for breakfast. A cup of bone broth. I drink lacto-fermented beverages. And for lunch and dinner I eat meat, vegies and salad, with butter or coconut oil.

Does anyone have experiences similar to mine? Does anyone have any ideas what could be going on or how to address this problem? It's driving me mad and I'm wondering if I have to give up the No Starch Diet.

Thanks!
Asphyxia

Hmm...well, my daughter always feels deprived on this diet, but her metabolism is much higher than mine, and she doesn't eat the variety I do.

When I was pregnant the dr. always said if I was craving something, my diet was lacking in something. It seems like you are eating a variety, but I wonder if a certain area isn't giving you quite enough? They fortify flour with folic acid and iron mostly. Maybe check with your doctor and see if you are not getting enough of a particular nutrient.

Cannot say I have craved bread after being on this diet alot time.

When I had candidas I craved sugar... which feeds it.

Tim

Yes, I am afraid Tim is right. Our gut flora can influence us in strange ways

This video is cute but has important observations :
Candida Infestation - The Ultimate Conspiracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlj087gDq50

If you feel you must eat starch, then I strongly urge you to eat rice instead of bread as it is just tolerated much better. I still do react to normal rice ... But I can eat glutinous rice as it contains no Amylose starch (instead it has Amylopectin starch). I still have to be careful not to have too much as I will get yeast / fungal infections.

My husband uses a Kinesiologist to see what nutrients he is lacking
Perhaps they could help you

I have diabetes and so need to eat low carbs (low starch, low sugar).

Before metformin, I really craved carbs. Now I don't so much.

Just because we crave food, doesn't mean we need the food that we crave. Sometimes our body is fooling us.

I haven't eaten wheat for a couple of years now. Every so often I have an annoying dream where I eat something I shouldn't like bread but other than that, I find the further into the no starch diet I go the less and less I crave bread. You sound like you have withdrawal symptoms from a wheat addiction! I've read in books like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain how wheat is a mild opiate which affect different people in different ways.

Dlee, I agree. Another theory is that yeast somehow creates the addiction by giving you "feel good" chemicals when you feed it (opiates..pretty much as you describe really).

Yeh I get those dreams. I actually ate a little bit of a potato chip a few weeks back just out of curiosity. Didn't taste like anything special now - just filler. It's only if I walk by a pizza joint that I might really want to eat starch, but really that is more about all the meat, cheese, spice and tomato mmmmm

Yes,After four days, I did not try to eat starch, I feel tired, unable to learn, not happy. That night ate a sandwich, it's too delicious, and I think it should slowly reduce the intake of starch intake until it stops, allowing the body to adapt.

+1 on this.

I practice a very restrictive variant of NSD. No starch, no sugar, no dairy. While it took me a while to adjust, I feel so much better than I ever have. I have zero issues with energy and have no desire to snack. The key for me was to eat a very balanced diet - not protein heavy. A lot of non-starchy carbs and healthy fats.

After 4-5 years, I'm a lot less strict about my sugar intake, but with the exceptions of a few weeks a year where certain fruits are in season, I have zero desire to consume any sugar. My most regular sugar intake nowadays is lemon when I cook.