Sick Opportunity

A Plea for Human Food

Bob — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:21:41 +0000

Hi folks,

It has been a long time since last I posted on my blog. I’m still here and am actively answering your emails and questions when they come in but I’ve not had anything interesting to post in a long time. Until now. Here’s a link to an article by “Charlie” who wrote one of our success stories below. This is a fantastic essay and well worth the read. Find it here: A Plea for Human Food

And if you’ve just been diagnosed with AS and have stumbled upon this blog in your search for treatment for your condition, welcome. You’re in the right place and hopefully some of the information contained here will help you to use diet to cure your Ankylosing Spondylitis. Yes, I did say CURE.

How do you start? Start here

Email me anytime if you have questions. Or post questions here

Good luck! And thanks to Charlie for writing such a fantastic essay!

I’m still here!

Bob — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:56:42 +0000

Hi Folks,

For those of you who’ve stumbled upon my blog in your efforts to learn more about your recent diagnosis of akylosing spondylitis you are in the right place to learn about dietary treatment for AS.

My apologies for not posting more often but rest assured that I will respond to emails and questions on this site and that I’ll try to post again soon.

So feel free to poke around and see if the NSD (no-starch diet) sounds like it is something you’d like to try. I can honestly say that it has worked wonders for me and that I’m pretty much symptom free after having followed the NSD for over 7 years now. I may have technically have AS but I don’t have a single symptom and I credit my diet entirely.

Good luck!

Bob

NSD Success Story: Meet Charlie

Bob — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:20:25 +0000

Thanks to Charlie for sharing his story. Here it is in his own words:

Symptoms started for me when I was 25, seven years ago, with what felt like a pulled hamstring. Like many AS sufferers I thought at first that this was some sort of injury and just waited for it to heal. Instead, over the next few months the pain mysteriously started to move from place to place in my legs and girdle area, increasing in intensity.

I was referred to a neurologist, who was mostly interested to find out whether this was a symptom of Myotonic Muscular Dystrophe, another genetic disease that runs in my family. My father died of it, and my sister has it pretty bad. I was tested and it turns out I dodged that one (pretty sure I got the HLA-B27 from my mom). My family has a curse on it, which probably began with my unspeakably evil great-grandfather.

Anyway the neurologist sent me on my way saying that this was an issue with posture or a lingering soft-tissue injury that would get better with stretching and strengthening, which made sense to me. But by that fall, things got really bad. I felt like I was walking waist deep in water, and the water was pain. The inhibition to move at all was so powerful that I lost my natural gait, and had to walk by micromanaging my legs.

Soon, pain between my shoulder blades would show up in the middle of the night and keep me awake, and while I was lying in bed I discovered a different issue. I began feeling palpitations. At first I mistook these for air bubbles, like little low pre-burp gurgles, but soon realized they were sensations coming from my heart. I would hear the normal thump-thump . . . thump-thump of my heartbeat, but then, occasionally, a thump-thump, thumthi . . . . . . . THUMPthi . . . . . . . . . . . . THUMPthi. . . . I went to the hospital and an echocardiogram determined that my heart was only pumping out about 30% of its volume with each beat (a healthy heart pumps 55-60%)–a condition called cardiomyopathy. I was in danger of “Sudden Death”, where the heart falls out of rhythm and then just gives up like a confused dancer. I was put on beta blockers and it was recommended that I have a defibrillator (an ICD) implanted in my chest to automatically administer an electric shock if my heart stopped. This was all while I was 25-26. I actually think that one reason it took so long for me to get an AS diagnosis was that I was much more worried about my heart than my pain. It was only later when I got the AS diagnosis that I learned the two conditions are probably related.

For years nothing changed–six years to be exact–and the pain continued to come and go. Then in 2010-2011 pain in my lower back got pretty bad and just stuck around–I mean like no relief at all for sixteen months. About a year ago I moved to New Hampshire, and switched PTs. Interestingly this new PT was the one (not the two neurologists, the three cardiologists, the four or five GPs I saw at the University of Chicago Student Care Center) who said I ought to get checked for AS. My X-rays and MRI showed some milky ribbons of calcification in the sacrum and spine–the beginnings of fusion. So I was diagnosed. This was August of 2011.

I was referred to a rheumatologist and she did what (apparently, as I’ve read of others’ experiences) rheumatologists do: she gave me a short list of pharmaceuticals, starting with stronger NSAIDS than I had been taking. For the next four months I was on the NSAIDs, and these didn’t work at all. This worried me because the next in her “big bag of tricks”–these were her secretary’s words on the phone, though to me this doesn’t seem like a very big bag–seemed scary to me: the immunosuppressant anti-TNFa drugs.

That was when I began to experiment with diet. This was supposed to be simple: I had heard that some foods are ‘inflammatory’ like wheat, and I thought I’d just get a list of those so I could avoid them. But this led me to a book on the Paleo diet (Robb Wolf’s) where I first read about leaky gut and autoimmune disease. I thought that I should try something more ambitious. I was one month into a Paleo diet, with little progress on the pain, when I finally ran across a reference to the no-starch diet for AS (what a fool I was–should have done a thorough search on AS treatment right away), which linked me to this blog, sickopportunity.com, and kickas.org, and after a little reading my wife and I decided I should just go all-out NSD that night. That morning I ate sauteed shrimp with spinach and avocado.

By about two weeks in (including some NSD novice missteps) my pain had gone from the 4-6 range to 0-1, which is where I’ve been now for four months, off NSAIDS for the last two. I’m still learning about the diet, and I turn out to be pretty starch sensitive. It seems I tolerate simple sugars and dairy in moderation. I will flare to about a 4 for two or three days if I eat the wrong thing: e.g. a fistful of macaroons on the way home from the supermarket that later tested jet black, an enzyme supplement I did not suspect (where the starch is in that I don’t know), maltodextrin, coconut milk, watermelon–these things have tricked me. If I’m careful and stick to what I know I do not flare at all.

A recent visit to the rheumatologist showed me two things: First, doctors can be disappointing here. It seems a lot of people who have used diet to treat their autoimmune disease have had experiences like mine: telling their doctor this amazing story about actually curing a crippling, incurable disease only to have them frown and tell you they’re happy that it ‘works for you’. What an unseeking, uninquiring way to respond. Thus the conversation ends where it ought to begin. Second, my bloodwork showed my CRP (an indicator for inflammation) now fell squarely in the normal range.

Then the recent trip to the cardiologist. Over the years my heart had mysteriously been improving its function bit by bit. Originally the cardiologist told me that this couldn’t happen, but it did: my heart went from pumping out 30% to 35% to 40% to 45%, with each semiannual echocardiogram from 2007-2010. I became glad I declined the invasive ICD. I don’t know how this came about, but my best theory is that the heart issue is either AS related or another GI autoimmune issue. When I was tested at 30% I had been a vegetarian for five years, but when I found out about my heart condition I gave it up on a recommendation from my cardiologist. I recently ran across one study Dr. Erbringer talks about showed that vegetarians have on average over 40 times the number of klebsiella in their feces, and of course there are all sorts of other differences in the gut flora too.

And this recent visit? Well I can’t be sure if the NSD is the reason but this echocardiogram showed my heart pumping out 55% of its volume with each beat–in other words: normal. The report literally says “all valves working normally”.

Of course I may keel over tomorrow, who knows. But I truly feel well now, which is just unbelievable. I recently took my first long, meandering hike in years (this, one of my favorite things in life, became one of my biggest no-nos). More importantly, my son Ben, our first, was born on April 12th and I have been able to be the legs of the family while my wife recovers. I’m hoping his dad will get stronger and stronger as he grows up. I’m truly thankful to the people who have taken the time to make the NSD a presence online for the sake of others like me. I usually avoid computers whenever possible, but I feel very lucky that we live in a time when we can spread ideas outside the orthodoxy so easily. It changed (and maybe saved) my life. Thank you.

If you’re thinking of starting NSD for heaven’s sake give it a try. If you want a teaser of what’s to come try a dinner to dinner fast. That’s simple–it’s certainly cheap–and very convincing.

Good luck!

Charlie

Getting Started

Bob — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:02:33 +0000

My apologies for not keeping up on this blog. For those of you who stumbled upon us in your quest for information on how to treat your Ankylosing Spondylitis using diet you’ve come to the right place. Here’s some quick info to get you started:

Here’s a quick overview of the no-starch diet.

Just Start Already!

Common questions and answers in our “General Questions” section.

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Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Anklylosing Spondylitis and Diet: Best Damn Pot Roast

Bob — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:45:53 +0000

This is seriously my favorite pot roast recipe ever. I’ve adopted a recipe I originally found on the great Mark Sisson’s website and have made it my own. The spice rub is Mark’s, but the rest is my own take. Give it a try and you’ll never look at pot roast the same way again.

4-5 pound pot roast (shoulder roast, whatever)

3 medium carrots

1 medium onion

4 cloves garlic, whole

1 cup beef stock (or more, sorry, I eyeball my liquids and will explain below in the notes)

1 bottle beer (use a good darker beer, not Coors or Bud. If you can find Holiday Beer w/spices in it then all the better)

1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes (can use fire roasted or other)

3 tablespoons Ghee (or butter, or olive oil)

Spice Rub:

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt (kosher salt is best)
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon allspice

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the spice rub in a medium glass bowl and mix it well with a spoon. Bring your pot roast to room temperature and then pat it dryish with a paper towel. Place roast on a plate or brownie pan and use a spoon to sprinkle the spice rub over the roast. Use one hand to sprinkle and the other to pat the rub into the roast in a uniform layer. Be sure to get the rub on every surface. Set roast aside. If you have time then you can wrap the roast in plastic wrap and put the fridge for an hour or two, but this is not required.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Heat a large oven-proof pan (pan must have a lid. I use a Le Crusete French oven, but any kind of oven proof pan with lid will do) on the stove top over high heat. Once pan is nice and hot add a couple tablespoons of Ghee and let it melt. Sear all sides of the spice-rubbed pot roast. That means all 6 sides including the ends. I use some grilling tongs and a large spoon to balance the pot roast. You should sear each side for around 1-2 minutes or until a nice “crust” develops on all sides. Remove pot roast from pan and set aside on a plate. I’ll usually reserve some of the Ghee and add more as I flip the roast to a new side. Add your beef stock to the hot pan and deglaze, rubbing bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to remove all the good chunks from the bottom. Don’t you dare throw those chunks out, they’re key and you will leave them in the cooking liquid. Add beer and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and add the pot roast, carrots, garlic, onions. The liquid in your pan should come up half way up the side of the pot roast so that the roast is half submerged in your liquid. If you don’t have enough liquid then either use a smaller pan or just add some more beef stock till you reach the desired depth. Cover pot and put it in your preheated oven for 3 hours. After 3 hours increase oven temperature to 285 degrees and cook for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Pull the roast out once during the first 3 hour shift and flip the meat, and then do the same half way through the second 2 hour shift…flip the meat, cover and put back in the oven immediately.

When the roast is done the meat should fall right off the bone. You should be able to pick chunks of it up w/the tongs or a fork.

Serve with a huge mixed salad and red wine.

This is not your mother’s pot roast. There’s a spicy kick to it and if you have kids then you may want to cut the pepper in half. Otherwise, a good bottle of beer is key. I used a holiday blend from New Belgium brewery which had cinnamon flavorings and it was absolutely perfect. But any really good dark beer will do nicely. Enjoy!

Ankylosing Spondylitis and Diet: Walnut Honey-Mustard Salmon

Bob — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:03:05 +0000

For those of you who think that your dietary cure to Ankylosing Spondylitis has to be a long, boring story filled with dry-as-sand chicken breast and iceberg lettuce or bacon and eggs every day I beg to differ. I honestly don’t get bored on this diet and you shouldn’t either. Here’s a really easy recipe for salmon (from a Costco cookbook of all places!):

Walnut Honey-Mustard Salmon

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons good mustard

2 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons basil or tarragon

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

4 salmon filets

salt and pepper

mix the honey, mustard, minced garlic, and basil in a bowl
remove the salmon skin from the salmon filets
spread mixture over tops and sides of salmon filets
sprinkle walnuts over top and let salmon rest for about 10 minutes before cooking
bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until done
serve

I also like to season my fish with a little salt and pepper before adding the mixture to the top, but that’s just me. You can use the salmon skin as well- just cut it up into a few pieces and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and roast it along side the filets. “Bacon of the sea” as Mark Sisson says.

Side Dishes

We served this with curried broccoli and a large spinach salad. Curried broccoli is really easy too:

chop the broccoli up into florets
coat liberally in a bowl with olive oil
spread on a baking pan and sprinkle curry, kosher salt, and a little pepper over the top
bake at 400 for around 10-15 minutes.

You might want to take it out of the oven and mix it up about halfway through the cooking time, or you can mix it before hand and leave it cook straight through. Take it out before the tips turn black.

I suppose this side dish would be low-starch as curry is technically starchy. But it doesn’t bother me. Be careful if you’re in the early stages of your NSD and are trying to be really strict. Some folks are bothered by even the small amount of starch in spices like curry and pepper. Experiment. After several years on the diet I stopped reacting to starches found in curry and pepper. A little salt and olive oil and fresh herbs would be a good substitute on this side dish if you can’t handle the curry.

I know the photo is not the best quality ever, but it’s a start.

Ankylosing Spondylitis and Diet: Success Stories

Bob — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:52:28 +0000

You can cure Ankylosing Spondylitis using diet alone. The purpose behind this blog is to deliver that message to confused and suffering AS patients all over the world and to offer a primer on how to get started on the Ankylosing Spondylitis diet.

Once you understand what causes Ankylosing Spondylitis it’s easy to understand why this dietary approach is so powerful and has worked for so many people. It’s not just the rantings of one crazy guy pushing his pet diet.

And that’s why I’m so thrilled to see my site statistics this morning. Over the last 48 hours I’ve posted a couple of new success stories from two readers who’ve recently had great results on the diet. Since posting their stories, those two pages have become the most trafficked pages on this blog. And with good reason. They are both very inspiring stories. Take a look for yourself.

The Dietary Success Stories

Read Lauren’s story here . Lauren has promised some good before and after pictures which I’ll be sure to post as soon as I have them.

Read Tony’s story here. What an awesome picture of his family.

Thanks to both Lauren and Tony for agreeing to share their stories with me. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do and that maybe you’ll consider trying the diet for yourself.

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Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Keep Your Balls in Check

Bob — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:39:49 +0000

There is a tendency to TRY EVERYTHING when searching for a cure for ankylosing spondylitis. That’s fine in theory, but if in executing this idea you try everything at once then how will you know for sure which single thing is working?

Having 5 new balls in the air all of a sudden is difficult to manage and may only insure that you drop one or all of the new changes you’ve adopted as you struggle to maintain your new routines with your old pain.

My advice? Change one thing at a time and put yourself on an Internet diet. Keep your balls in check by adding just one new ball at a time to your daily juggling routine. If you’re going to try a starch free diet to cure your ankylosing spondylitis then make that one single change and give it a chance to work without adding any other major changes to your daily routine. And don’t forget to document, document, document! Start a food journal right away. Write down how you feel, what foods you eat, and how you react to everything.

I’d also advise taking a diet from AS forums as well. Information overload is a sure fire way to induce analysis paralysis. God knows that everyone is different and if you keep reading all the forums you will run into a million different stories from a million different people all giving the same general advice with a million minor differences. Bananas are good, bananas are bad. Some starch is good, even a little is bad. Probiotics are good, probiotics are bad. Vitamins are a must! Vitamins should be avoided due to additives…blah, blah, blah. You get the idea.

Here’s how you get started on the no starch diet. Here’s another very basic primer to starting on the NSD.

And if you need a little kick in the ass to get started then you should read this post.

Timeframe

You should probably give the diet at least 3-6 months to work. I found that the diet had an impact on my pain levels almost immediately, like within days. But many people need a few weeks or months of trial and error to work out the kinks. And if you’re in the middle of a flare when you start the diet then it may take even longer to feel results. Be patient. Be vigilant.

Expert Advice

I know how confusing it can be as you digest your new diagnosis and come to terms with the idea of having an incurable disease. I’ve been in your shoes. But trust me, you can do this. There is a dietary cure for ankylosing spondylitis and it’s as simple as cutting the starch from your diet. You will eventually become comfortable with your new diet. Eating a no starch diet will become second nature to you. You’ll start to feel more confident ordering in restaurants and modifying your choices at dinner parties. You will, in short, become an expert. You are really the only expert that matters when it comes to your health, but you have to take that first step before anything good happens. You have to be ok with being totally uncomfortable. You’re a stranger in a strange land but soon you will speak the language.

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Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Diet Can Cure Disease

Bob — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:10:18 +0000

Many people who suffer from ankylosing spondylitis stumble on this website as they search for alternatives to powerful and potentially harmful drugs like Humera, Remicade, and painkillers.

I often find myself answering email inquiries from confused AS patients asking a version of the same question: Is this for real? Can diet really cure my disease?

Well, just take a look at this incredible video of Dr. Terry Wahls and I think you’ll come away with a new perspective on diet being used as medication. It’s only 17 minutes long and you will love it.

Half a cow

Bob — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:36:26 +0000

I was listening to the radio while driving the other day and heard a story about how one of our biggest exports here in Colorado is beef. Seems several Asian countries just can’t get enough of the stuff. I’m with them.

Just last week we took delivery of an entire side of grassfed, local, Colorado beef. We’ve got the bundles spread out over 3 freezers- half a cow turns out to be a lot of meat. Duh. Over the last several years my family has turned into primal/paleo enthusiasts. We typically cook some type of protein, fresh veggies, salad, and maybe some fruit. Variations on that theme are pretty much what we have every night for dinner. The thing to remember is that there are literally thousands of variations on that theme. As I look at the various cuts of grass-fed beef in my freezer I’m realizing that I’m going to have to learn some new recipes. Beef heart? Okay. Liver? Well, that’ll be easy as I am one of those freaks who loves liver. Bone marrow? Yup, love that too. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and olive oil on it, throw it in a hot oven for about 20 minutes and you’ve got a little nugget tastes like a beefy scallop. Yum.

Grass-fed beef is as high or higher in omega 3′s than salmon. Seriously, it is. Google it. So if you’re one of those people who things fish is better than meat, think again.

Look, I know some of you are still struggling with your diet. You’re still in the mourning phase after giving up pastas, bread, fries, chips, pizza, etc. They call them comfort foods for a reason. These are simply some of the best tasting foods on the planet. I know. I get it. I’ve been there.

But trust me when I say that it gets easier. Once you feel what this diet can do for you the next step is to get busy learning to cook a lot of different recipes. This is enormously important. Variety is the key to success with the NS diet. And quality products are key as well.

To all of you who have written in over the past month or so I promise I’ll get back to you soon. It’s been a really busy couple of months and I’m way behind on my correspondence. You’ll hear from me soon. Stick with the diet. You can do this!

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Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net