I have been on the NSD for 2 months now. I had a bit of a slip 1 month ago with some potatoes but I am back on track. I do not know how much different I am feeling. The Doctor put me on 75 mg of Cataflam (Diclofenac) twice a day. That is helping more than anything. If I take 2 a day I feel great, but I am trying to take one a day to have a better judge of how the diet is doing.

I had Iritis issues which caused me to freak out and get motivated to start this NSD thang. The Iritis was my biggest fear and that has gone away but I treated it pretty aggressively with Pred Forte. So I do not know if it was the diet or the drugs. I have stopped taking the drugs and the eye is better, but the Rhummy (and the Optimologist) told me that I may or may not have anymore Eye issues. Great! Thanks Doc, what a wealth of info!

Seeing the impact that diet has on my son, I know instinctively that diet can do it. It is just finding the right balance of things to get it right.

The problem is I do not know if I see it. I just do not think I am feeling all that much better. I am thinking of keeping track of my pain levels through out the day and then starting to experiment again.

The main problem is I am eating as much as I can, but I am still loosing weight. I am under 150 again and my pants are starting to fall off again.

My day consists of:

2 eggs omelet with - pepper onion and mushroom.
Fruit salad
Maybe a Cherry Larabar - (Dates Almonds Cherries)
Walnuts and Raisins
Grilled Meat for lunch - (Chicken, Beef or Pork)
Veggies - Asparagus or Broccoli or Cauliflower
Grapefruit
An Apple
Salad, Veggie and Grilled Meat for Lunch.

I am a hawk for labels and whole foods. My son has been on Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 2 years so I am used to watching for hidden stuff. I have Iodine and checking foods and supplements.

I went through a digestive detox – Oxy Powder. My wife got it for herself and then decided not to do it so I figured what the heck.

Any thoughts?

Hi, I have had iritis a few times. I think that at times I am not in inflammatory mode and then it seems as though I can eat a wider variety of things...but then I can get an illness, be under stress, or I don't know what other factor--and then I will get symptoms of feeling achey, my eye will throb, and I'll feel inflammation throughout my body. It might not show up on any test, but it is a different feeling. When I go back to being careful about my diet, then I feel that I'm more in balance, and feel more comfortable. I would suggest that you add more food to your daily diet. Increase the quantity, and how about SDC yogurt with honey, would that work for you? I know it is hard to figure it all out and I'm going through it too, as many here are, so best of luck and best of health to you!
Jan

Hi Brian,

Sorry to hear you do not see the results, but helps that you posted what you are eating. I went through some struggles when beginning as well.

Now to the foods and items that may present problems.

- Probably an issue - Mushrooms and cauliflower
- Fringe foods that may be problems - almonds, onions, asparagus (asparagus and onions have FOS which can feed the bacteria). I have not had issues with FOS, but there are a select few here that do.

Other than that, I did not see many issues with the food list. Hopefully if you can replace some of these foods (like green peppers and tomatoes in omelet for muschroom) and drop cauliflower for salads (lettuce, celery, collard greens, red cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, alfalfa sprouts etc..) you can see some improvements.

Wishing you the best.

Tim

You might try giving up reading labels and just stick to simple, fresh, whole foods for a month and see if you notice any difference. Depending on how sensitive you are, some processed foods contain trace amount of starch and are not listed on the label (for example pre shredded or sliced cheeses are sprinkled with starch to keep them from sticking and its not listed in the ingredients) I recently learned nuts can be difficult to digest if not prepared properly, check the recipe forum for directions on preparing. And even the skin on the almonds can prevent you from being pain free during the early stages. Some people can't tolerate dairy or sugars as well. It seems so restricted! But you get used to it and learn to enjoy simple, fresh, whole foods.

Are you eating lacto-fermented sauerkraut? This seems to really help many in healing the gut and getting our systems back in balance. See the recipe forum for instruction on making. You can start eating it in 3 days, and then keep fermenting it to get stronger.

Do you use iodine to test your food? Many apples are starchy.

Substitute saute greens and garlic to have with your eggs.

Hope your feeling some results soon. Some people do take longer then others.

Brian,

I lasted 21 days STRICT NSD, no dairy, no sugar. I didn't notice any symptom relief but attribute that to the fact that I didn't stick with it long enough. My problem was that I wasted away - as it sounds like you are. I have a physically demanding occupation and I lost so much strength, energy and weight that I had to add whole grains back into my diet. I dropped from 135 to 119 (I'm 5'8") during that 21 days and had zero fat reserves before the diet change. It was pathetic. In the past couple of weeks since I went back to carbs, I'm putting muscle back on and have energy to work out. I'm back on NSAIDs to curb the pain and hope I can revisit the NSD at a later time. I'm doing the LSD right now.

I'm going to give the Radon therapy a try in June. If I don't see any relief, I'll try to figure out a way to attack the NSD again. But, I just may not have the body type that can handle it. Low blood sugar and a high metabolism...

Keep us posted. I'm following all of you NSD rookie's trials.

Brad

Hi Brad,

I may be in a similar boat, but my job is not so demanding and my physical exercise is walking and tennis... which do not use huge amounts of energy (the tennis is more friendly than very competitive since we are all near 40 yrs old).

I find that I have to eat a lot more fat on the days I play tennis, but realize it is not something I could probably do every day either.

Hopefully works well with you with whole grains and radon treatment.

Tim

Thanks, Tim. As of yesterday, I got more aggressive with the LSD. I've decided to add some washed brown rice and maybe a single piece of whole grain bread (once a day) with my meals while I shoe horses. Breakfast and dinner will be NSD. It's those 10 hours in the middle of the day when I'm burning mad calories that are wiping me out. Will give this a try and see if it keeps my weight/energy up.

I tried the apple fast and lasted exactly 10 hours before making a decision to crawl to the phone and dial 911 or find a way to get a slice of ham out of the fridge. Ha! Blood sugar just couldn't do it - which is weird since I was getting plenty of sugars. Guess I need protein or fats or something. I wonder if there are any cheat variations of the apple fast that include some nuts or something?

Take care,

Brad

hi brad,

blood sugar is a tricky thing for those of us with either hypoglycemia or diabetes. look at the recent posts on hypoglycemia and diabetes for some suggestions. even if you have neither condition, the tips may still help.

one of the problems with those of us who can't regulate our blood sugar as well as others is that simple sugars will just cause our blood sugar to crash even further. any carbs can do the same if too many are eaten at one time. a mixture of protein, fat, and/or high fiber complex carbs / veggies seem to stabilize blood sugar the best. also, eating smaller more frequent amounts of food also help.

for people without blood sugar issues, they can fast and/or eat just about anything they want. their insulin will keep things regulated. but for some of us, we have to be careful with what, when, and how much we eat.

sue

Brown basmati rice was going to be my crutch if I had to rely on grains and Jeanne just posted a thread regarding with her successful trial.

May want to look into fish oil to help with inflamation and digestive enzymes and probiotics to help break down the foods with digestion (leaving less for Klebs).

Tim

the rice is on the shopping list.

-Brad

I've been on the NSD for over a year now strict. Still learning and discovering. It took a good 4 months to see some good results for me. I had to cut out ALL dairy.Careful with some apples as they are picked unripened and stored in refrigeration for winter months and seem to test starchy. To keep weight on I eat about a lot of nut/raisins about 1200cal just in raisins per day. Be careful if you cook your veggies- could release starch.

Each person is different, I often eat the foods that you describe to us and she goes to me very well.
Perhaps generally I do not have problems to frequently consume apples, fruits droughts, asparagi…, the onion causes problems to me in damasiada amount.
Luck and dale time that in the end always aid to be positive.

When I started the diet I found it extremely confusing trying to figure out exactly what I am reacting to. It is hard at first and it took me years to master this diet. I have persisted because I know it works. I know it works because I fasted on just fruits [plus water] and experienced the amazing results - no inflammation after 2 or 3 days of fasting. No need for drugs. Then I started eating normally again and the pain came back in a matter of hours!.

== fringe foods ==
Exactly what is fringe food seems to depend on who you are. I can not eat walnuts or macadamias, or dates.. these cause significant inflammation. In fact I have problems with most nuts and seeds except for blanched almonds, hazelnuts and sesame. Un-blanched almonds [ie. with skin on] only cause a mild reaction and I adapt to them when eaten regularly.

I don't react to vegetables like brocoli, cauliflower, zuchini, eggplant, tomato, sesame seeds, or sesame pastes, whilst there are others who apparently do.

I previously had trouble with the inulin [the long chain relative of FOS] in onions and garlic. Quite a significant reaction despite having practically no starch. I found though that my system could adapt to some things like inulin and almond skins, but not to other such as starch.

== fasting ==
Despite your low weight I would still recommend that you fast for about 3 days and just eat apples, pears, and grapes, and drink water. I find I regain any lost weight very qiuickly after a fast anyway. Perhaps because the digestive system works more efficiently after a good rest. After 3 days I find that all the inflammation / iritis has cleared and hence no longer have any use for drugs.

No matter how out of season these 3 fruits get [apples, pears, and grapes] I simply don't react to them, so that is why I recommend them. Once you are at that point when you are in no pain, then try to introduce foods one by one. Write down your observations. Introduce the safest foods first [eg. meat, eggs, leafy greens, almonds, hazelnuts, tomato, and maybe some yoghurt]. Very hard to take it slow when ending a fast bcos u r so darn hungry! But first things first - you need to work out a basic list of foods that you KNOW you can eat without getting into trouble.

Hi, I think I posted to you about Kelp & those dried fish snacks (which I forgot to add, are often dried with sugar and msg). I hope you're eating organic raisins, because non-organic raisins are one of THE most pesticide laden foods.

>> non-organic raisins are one of THE most pesticide laden foods.

whoa.. that's good to know. Thanks!!