Anyone done the specific carb diet or GAPS?

[anniekim]

Has anyone done the specfic carbohydrate diet or GAPS?

As well as improving bowel symptoms, did it also help your M.E/CFS generally, namely, could you do more before post exertional malaise set in etc..?

The only problem for me is these diets make lose the will to live, they are so strict!

Thanks in advance

 

[Rosebud Dairy]

I have done SCD as a test, and my gut issues were greatly resolved on it. I later examined WHY I might have done so well on it, and come to find out, I don't tolerate folic acid - as a vitamin supplement or in fortified foods. So, you could test folic acid WHILE ON a test week of SCD, and see if that is it. One documented side effect of folic acid is diarrhea.

Other symptoms improved while I do not have any folic acid (see methylation forum).

I have a restricted diet now, but not as strict as SCD, and I have gotten tremendous and consistent improvement in my gut issues by leaving out folic acid while supplementing with the active form of folate - L-methylfolate.

 

[maddietod]

Yes, I've done SCD, and no it didn't help. It turns out that my situation is much like Rosebud's, except that I have more trouble with the folinic acid in vegetables, nuts, and fruit than she does.

 

[slayadragon]

I think it's possible that this diet might be a little helpful in healing the gut, but it's not a miracle cure.

For instance, trichothocenes (toxins made by certain species of mold, like Stachybotrys) have been shown in many studies to damage the gut lining. Depending on the extent of the damage, no diet may be enough to compensate until people get out of the exposure. If that's the case, people may be better off avoiding their own specific food triggers, regardless of what they are. For instance, when I was living in my moldy home, I was reactive to all citrus, raspberries/strawberries/blackberries, coconut, pineapple, green beans, cashews, peanuts, corn, dairy, eggs and a bunch of other things. If I avoided all those things scrupulously, I felt better. Other people with similarly severe issues have different food reactivities, and thus would do better to avoid different things rather than following some set diet.

I think it's possible that the folinic acid in produce competes with methylfolate, but it seems to me that (insofar as produce is tolerated in terms of food reactivities) the benefits of eating it make it worthwhile to just take extra methylfolate rather than avoiding produce.

I do agree that for people with methylation difficulties, eating folic acid in fortified foods or in supplements seems like it could be counterproductive.

Best, Lisa

 

[Athene]

I've done the SCD and it helped a bit, but I only got real improvements when I also cut out honey (which it inexplicably allows) and then I realised that I have problems with ALL carbs and was best on the Atkins /extreme carbohydrate avoidance diet, which is so restrictive it makes the SCD look like a walk in the park!
I have very bad intestinal candida, which flares up with all carbs, and Lyme disease, which makes you unable to metabolise carbs properly so they poison you.
So those are the two reasons it helped me.
I think the bottom line is, it helps some of us PWCs but not all, and you have to try it to find out if it will work for you. If it really does work for you, that makes it a whole lot easier to stick to!

 

[slayadragon]

Have you ever used homemade kefir or homemade probiotic yogurt, Athene?

My experience has been that most probiotic capsules or powders do not have nearly enough potency to solve our candida problems. The homemade kefir/yogurt has much higher numbers of cultures, and thus seems much more helpful.

Last winter, I did a very intensive detox of (I believe) mold poison through my gut. A severe candida infection followed. (This makes sense to me, because the reason that mold makes toxins is to kill off competitive microorganisms in the environment. If it can kill off all the benign bacteria on the walls of a home, it seems reasonable that it would do that in the gut as well!) My sugar cravings were ridiculous.

Within a day after starting homemade kefir (1-2 quarts a day), the sugar cravings all went away and my gut started to get much better. (I didn't change my diet otherwise.) So now I'm a big kefir fan. (Homemade probiotic yogurt is a little fussier, but works just as well.)

I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences with this.

Thanks, Lisa

 

[Kathi]

I loved homemade kefir with goat's milk and grains.. I felt really good on it. Several of my dogs liked it too. I stopped for awhile... but that is another story. I have purchased a yogurt maker and will get going with that soon. I loved some yogurt I got at the Health Food store a few times..and decided to make it on my own. the first try I used almond milk and that was a failure. I recently purchased some Lifeway blueberry and strawberry kefir at Costco.

 

[slayadragon]

What kind of cultures are you going to use for the yogurt, Kathi?

I did well with yogurt over the summer in the desert, when it was 100 degrees or more during the day. I was using a probiotic powder (a compounded one I bought from my CFS doctor). But maybe a yogurt maker would be worth it, so that I could make yogurt at other times.

There wasn't a lot of difference between the yogurt and the kefir, but I may have liked the yogurt slightly better. Kefir's a lot less fussy though, at normal room temperature.

Thanks, Lisa

 

[anne_likes_red]

I'm sorry I missed the original question.

I did SCD from 2007 to 2009. Then I switched to GAPS so I added in more ferments, a wider variety of probiotic strains and bone broth. I added in some fermented hemp and soy last year.

A couple of months ago I decided to cut out nuts (except a few pine nuts) and add in extra greens a la Terry Wahls TM

I was eating a relatively healthy diet beforehand but each step has seen some improvement:
From 2007 - no more migraines, reduced joint pain.
2009 - treatment resistant low iron status resolved.
Last year since intoducing more probiotics - digestion improved.
From this year inflammation and body pain improved. (Best result yet!)

I'm planning to add in more probiotics, and more fermented foods - including trying a raw vegetable protien that's similar in amino acid profile to whey, but is made from sprouted whole rice which is then fermented. *Phew*. I guess it's still technically a grain....which would make me officially off GAPS, but I'm going to try it anyway.

 

[slayadragon]

I'm sorry I missed the original question.

I did SCD from 2007 to 2009. Then I switched to GAPS so I added in more ferments, a wider variety of probiotic strains and bone broth. I added in some fermented hemp and soy last year.

A couple of months ago I decided to cut out nuts (except a few pine nuts) and add in extra greens a la Terry Wahls TM

I was eating a relatively healthy diet beforehand but each step has seen some improvement:
From 2007 - no more migraines, reduced joint pain.
2009 - treatment resistant low iron status resolved.
Last year since intoducing more probiotics - digestion improved.
From this year inflammation and body pain improved. (Best result yet!)

I'm planning to add in more probiotics, and more fermented foods - including trying a raw vegetable protien that's similar in amino acid profile to whey, but is made from sprouted whole rice which is then fermented. *Phew*. I guess it's still technically a grain....which would make me officially off GAPS, but I'm going to try it anyway.

That's really great, Anne. Do you think that your improvements are wholly related to the changes in your diet? Did you change anything else during that time?

Thanks, Lisa

 

[anne_likes_red]

Hi Lisa,
In 2007 the diet change (notably excluding grains) was the only change I made.
Last year I worked on methylation and chelation and I'm still taking supplements to support both so that may have contributed to improvement on some level.
After stopping nuts and seeds in January - with no other changes except for more greens*, the inflammation that's been slamming me since March last year has improved maybe 75%. I'm really pleased about that because I feel ready now to take a next step.

*includes a green "superfood" powder.

Anne.

 

[Athene]

Have you ever used homemade kefir or homemade probiotic yogurt, Athene?

My experience has been that most probiotic capsules or powders do not have nearly enough potency to solve our candida problems. The homemade kefir/yogurt has much higher numbers of cultures, and thus seems much more helpful.

Last winter, I did a very intensive detox of (I believe) mold poison through my gut. A severe candida infection followed. (This makes sense to me, because the reason that mold makes toxins is to kill off competitive microorganisms in the environment. If it can kill off all the benign bacteria on the walls of a home, it seems reasonable that it would do that in the gut as well!) My sugar cravings were ridiculous.

Within a day after starting homemade kefir (1-2 quarts a day), the sugar cravings all went away and my gut started to get much better. (I didn't change my diet otherwise.) So now I'm a big kefir fan. (Homemade probiotic yogurt is a little fussier, but works just as well.)

I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences with this.

Thanks, Lisa

Hi,
No, I've never tried kefir. I am allergic to dairy so unfortunately anything milky is out for me.
You're right that most probiotics are not potent enough to deal with candida. I've recently added Candex to my 45 billion daily probiotics intake. Candex is a set of enzymes that dissolve the cell walls of candida and it does seem to be working.
Unfortunately, at least for now, that's all I can handle.
Athene

 

[maddietod]

Hi Lisa,
In 2007 the diet change (notably excluding grains) was the only change I made.
Last year I worked on methylation and chelation and I'm still taking supplements to support both so that may have contributed to improvement on some level.
After stopping nuts and seeds in January - with no other changes except for more greens*, the inflammation that's been slamming me since March last year has improved maybe 75%. I'm really pleased about that because I feel ready now to take a next step.

*includes a green "superfood" powder.

Anne.

What is it about stopping nuts that's so helpful?

Madie

 

[slayadragon]

Hi,
No, I've never tried kefir. I am allergic to dairy so unfortunately anything milky is out for me.
You're right that most probiotics are not potent enough to deal with candida. I've recently added Candex to my 45 billion daily probiotics intake. Candex is a set of enzymes that dissolve the cell walls of candida and it does seem to be working.
Unfortunately, at least for now, that's all I can handle.
Athene

I've heard some good things about water kefir and coconut milk kefir too...

Best, Lisa

 

[anne_likes_red]

Hi Madie,
I decided to try and lower my arginine intake because lysine/arginine ratio can affect EBV (and other herpesvirus) expression.
Anne.

What is it about stopping nuts that's so helpful?

Madie

 

[Athene]

Hi Anne likes red,
I'm with you there, the lysine/arginine ratio definitely makes a great difference to EBV and HHV activity! I find it much better to increase lysine with a supplement rather than try to cut out arginine rich foods, as that means losing out on lots of other nutrients too. 1,000mg lysine daily is enough to stop HHV and 3,000 is necessary to keep EBV under control. The dosage goes by size, so a very large man may need a lightly higher dose. I've been taking this for years and have not had any problems with these viruses since doing that. I had at least 2 cold sores at any one time and chronic high EBV titers for years before discovering this.

The other thing that could make a nuts a problem for you is if you are sensitive to mould, as they always seem to carry mould unless you buy completely fresh ones which still have their soft green outsides on. Also, if the oil in them is slightly rancid (which apparently it is long before they start to taste bad) then that is extremely liver toxic, and therefore sabotages your methylation programme and other efforts at detox.

Slayadragon Lisa,
I didn't know there were non-dairly versions fo kefir, I'm excited to hear that. Do you know any websites which explain how I could get started with making it?

 

[slayadragon]

Athene,

Here is a website that I like that provides a lot of information about different kinds of live food, including water kefir.

http://www.yemoos.com/waterproductpage.html

I've purchased live grains from them, but one time I did get dehydrated ones for milk kefir from another company in a health food store. They came to life very quickly, so I would imagine the water kefir ones would work the same way, for people who are living in places other than the U.S.

That's interesting that the lysine actually has been helpful to you. It sounds like your measurable EBV titers actually went down, which is really great to hear. I wonder if other people have had similar experiences.

Nuts definitely can be quite moldy. I think that was a problem for me at some points. Raw organic nuts (which I eat now) are not necessarily free of mold either, but I think that they may be more careful with them than some nut handlers are.

Best, Lisa

 

[Athene]

Thanks for the link!

Yes, I had very low measured titers for EBV the last 2 years and I don't get it measured any more, it is always low. It used to be medium to high every time it was tested.

 

[Kathi]

Lisa, I get a really great yogurt from the health food store down the road... I am going to use that as a starter and milk that they can get for me...

Kathi