Discussion Board

I have been on the starch-based diet for about three weeks. I have always suffered with constipation, but I was doing pretty well until this week. Is it possible that I am eating too much starch? I am drinking as much water as I can handle.

Calypso, what are you eating? If you list the ingredients of your last three meals, including condiments, that will help the discussion. Here is my example, for breakfast:
1 cup cooked vegetable: green beans.
2 cups fruit: prunes, dates, banana, and cantaloupe.
3 cups of potatoes.

How often do you eat? How often do you usually have bowel movements?

Also, are you taking a probiotic?

Hi calypso -- I had this problem at first... I felt like the freak McDougaller! But it went away over time. My body just acts like that at any dietary change. I slowly increased the amount of veg and lowered the starch/beans component, too, which helped.

I was taking a probiotic, but I depleted them and have not bought anymore. I am supposed to be dairy intolerant, and a lot of the brands have casein. I was having a bowel movement about every other day, but this week it was less frequent, and it was not as much as it should have been (Sunday, Wednesday and this evening). I took some magnesium citrate and calcium to help me go.

My last three meals:

Breakfast: corn flakes (organic) with blueberries and rice milk; brown rice farina (I was still hungry!); mint tea

Mid-morning snack: 2 oranges

Lunch: black beans, mixed vegetables, small amount of yams (3 pieces).

Mid-afternoon snack: five small apple slics

Dinner: black beans, corn and string beans, sweet potato (frozen puffs); mint tea

BTW, I am on the diet to try to get relief from symptoms from MS. I am also supposed to have leaky gut. I am already very thin, so I do not need to lose any weight--I actually need to gain. If I eliminate beans, peas, corn then I know I will start to lose weight--I tried this for a year, and the MS and the intestinal symptoms did not got better--I ljust ost weight and looked bad.

How much water are you drinking? Do you drink whenever you are thirsty?

I try to drink whenever I am thirsty--and when I'm not--but I am not drinking 8 glasses per day. I would literally be going to the bathroom all day long because as soon as I drink about a cup, I have to go, and I seem to put out as much or more than I've drunk. I wonder how I'm getting any benefit from the water because it seems like none of it stays in me.

I too have been diagnosed with MS. I had major constipation issues. I started this diet August 2009. Felt better, no pain about 5 days in to diet. Constipation took about 6 weeks to resolve it self. MD though the constapation was due to MS destroying nerves to bowel. I have had no MS symptoms for over a year now.
This diet has been a life saver for me. I hope you stick with it and give the diet a chance to work .

Thank God and congratulations for your progress! I do plan to stick with it because there are no other natural options. Do you take any supplements or probiotics? What kind of symptoms were you having?

When I would have a flare up, extreme fatigue, difficulty walking and standing, legs felt like lead. Balance would be off. Last flare was March 2009. Went on steroids for that. I was taking 12 different supplements. When I came across this way of eating I just stopped all medications(Betaseron and Provigil), and all supplements. Day to day issues were fatigue, brain fog, weakness and decreased sensation left side. I now can detect when the water is hot. Very happy about that. I work with a pasturizer, the water temp is 166 degrees I noticed the heat about 18 months after changing my diet. I now only take Vitiman B 12.

The thing that helps me the most is a big bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, raspberries and raisins. Also we add 1 TBSP of ground flaxseeds to this. I go to the bathroom right after.

The other thing that helps a lot is I have a big salad for dinner with raw grated beets. This seems to really help the texture of my bathroom trip. Just a thought.

OK--I have started eating oatmeal again this week now that I've changed to this diet and found gluten free oats. I didn't have any potatoes or oatmeal during the beginning of last week, and I noticed that the stiffness in my leg was less for three days. However, I have had some intensification of the MS symptoms in the last couple of days after I ate both oats and potatoes. So, I will have to monitor my oats and potato consumption. JeffN said that he had no knowledge that potatoes cause inflammation in the body, but I was told that by the chiropractor and I've seen it online. I will test them both separately.

I found that eating potatoes always gave me horrible gas and bloating and also made me constipated. When I stopped eating them, my bowel movements normalized and now all is happy that way.

Gluten free oatmeal works very well for me. I think it's a good idea to test each food separately. For me it takes a couple days to see the effect of adding or removing a food.

Someone on another board shared that potatoes do cause inflammation for her. If either of the two is a problem, I prefer to have to eliminate the oats so that I can have more variety with my meals by including potatoes. Thanks.

Try adding psyllium husk, (aka metamucil). It is generally very safe to use. Just to be sure it agrees with you, start off with with 1/2 the recommended dose, 1 teaspoon once a day and then increase. Max dose is about a Tablespoon 3x day.

Try pure brands such as Konsyl. Metamucil sometimes has added flavors, sugar and dyes.

You can also buy the un-refined husk in health food stores and grind it yourself into a fine power much like flax seed. Psyllium has little food value, only about 15 Kcal a Tablespoon (6 grams).

Side benefit is that it will lower cholesterol.

Read here before taking: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000092/

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