A UK Hello! page

[autumnangel]

Hi, am so new that haven't even started yet! I've tried and tried and just can't get going on my own. Had years off sugar/flour/caffeine (although still with small amount of 'healthy' wholegrains) and have spectacularly been sliding back into all of them for the last few months. Have a head full of information, but have never gone completely grain free - maybe am just too much of an addict and there's always a reason to keep something in.

It's inspiring to hear from people who live happily and healthily grain free, especially when so much information tells us that it's healthy to have them and dangerous/obsessive to cut them out. I'm 46 and have had fatigue, joint and muscle stiffness and digestive problems, despite following a 'healthy' eating plan, walking and meditating!

I look forward to any new connections.....

[madog]

Hello and welcome. Enjoy the journey.

Perhaps an approach would be to just stop eating one item first. Drop bread first for a while then try dropping pasta, then pizza (hardest :-) )

[brighthorse]

welcome!

[Nigel]

am so new that haven't even started yet!

Well do! You will not regret it. I started by giving up bread, and, being as I like meat I found that I managed that alright. I still have white rice every couple of weeks when my wife needs her fix of it but I look upon it as a little indulgence rather than a heinous crime.

[Lewis]

I'm 46 and have had fatigue, joint and muscle stiffness and digestive problems, despite following a 'healthy' eating plan, walking and meditating!

IMO, you should definitely try the Robb Wolf tactic of going totally grain-free and legume-free (perhaps even dairy-free) for 30 days and see what happens.

The combination of GI problems, joint pain, and fatigue sounds rough. It sounds like some kind of auto-immune problem going on.

I'd try grain-free, legume-free, and maybe that will work. But if that doesn't totally resolve it, I'd guess it might just be possible that you need to go starch-free. With some people, starch causes an overgrowth of klebsiella bacteria in the gut. The person's immune system tries to kill them. Unfortunately, there's a sizable minority of people whose ancestors come from northern countries -- British and Irish people, Scandinavians, etc.[*]-- who have a mutation that makes their own cells look a bit like the klebsiella. The immune sytem mistakes those and attacks them. These people often have GI symptoms plus arthritic-like symptoms, so I'd think that might be a possibility for you.

I don't, of course, know that's so. But it sounds like a possibility. There is apparently a genetic test you can have run, if it begins to look like that's the case. More information in this recording:

The LLVLC Show (Episode 586): Carol Sinclair Shares How ‘The IBS Low-Starch Diet’ Saved Her Life « Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low Carb Blog

But try standard Paleo/Primal first and see what gives.


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Footnote
[*] I suppose people from more southern countries, since the diet has historically contained more starch over the past couple of thousand years have, effectively, eliminated people with that gene from their gene-pool, since they couldn't cope with the diet.

[Gary Conway]

Hello from Hampshire! I found giving up grains wasn't too bad considering I used to be a pasta & pizza monster. Once you see the benefits of eating primally it's a lot easier to drop the junk food. You also don't feel too bad having a cheat meal when you eat well 90% of the time.

[autumnangel]

Thanks for the welcome and the tips - luckily haven't returned to the pasta or pizza yet, but the way I've been going, it would only be a matter of time! Amazing how much quicker the descent has been since eating flour again....

[autumnangel]

Thank you!

[autumnangel]

Thanks Lewis, for a VERY helpful welcome. And I'm pretty sure you have a point with the starch thing - a few years ago I had tests for arthritis and I do have an antigen (HLA B27 or something) that is present in Ankylosing Spondilitis sufferers and reacts the same, although apparently I don't have AS. Every road seems to be leading to the same place! And I'm a northern hemisphere-ite through and through, so it makes sense. I will definitely check out the link - thanks again.

[autumnangel]

Thanks Gary, maybe it won't be as horrible as I'm imagining giving it up again! Will check out your website too.