Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Help with chicken

Having been a lurker here for sometime, here is my Indian story.
I have been in pain for the last 3 years and was formally diagnosed with AS over 2 years ago. When I reacted adversely to NSAIDS, I stumbled upon here while exploring for other options.
While I had success with the diet with my inflammation gone, there remained some concerns:
One, I dropped a lot of weight as I went from 70 kgs to 50kgs as being a vegetarian I was further constrained on food options and thus lost all muscle and was always deprived of energy.
My diet was extremely lop sided with me not getting enough of fats and proteins.
Cut to last month, when I thought I have had enough and planned on starting chicken and fish.
Got some tips on cleaning, handling and cooking chicken but boy was I stressed that night. Had chicken that night and woke up to inflammation. The flare that started then has since been a nightmare with my hips, buttocks, lower back and neck all flared up. Since chicken is safe on every list, I’m in a fix. I cooked the chicken curry style with onions and tomatoes because that is how I was guided by people here. So while I hope that it was the extras that caused me the inflammation, here are my questions.
1) Could chicken at all, anyhow cause inflammation to someone, who’s not had it before as the immune system could go on an overdrive to what it perceives as a ‘foreign’ stuff or am I just being gibberish as it is all about starch/no starch?
2) How do we kickAS guys cook chicken that causes us no inflammation?
3) What are other foods to put on some weight? I don’t digest tofu/soya or butter well.

This forum has been a goldmine of information and support. A big thank you to all the mods and ASkickers here.

According to what I've read on the forums and the site, onions and spices are supposedly fringe foods that may cause reactions in some people. I know this because I love curry and it's something I haven't had on the diet (still 3 weeks in, no reduction in pain yet, fingers crossed).

Yes onion is a fringe food and that is why I never have it otherwise. How do you otherwise cook chicken without onions and spices? Merely boil it and eat it? Embarrassed to ask this dumb question but I've never had chicken before.
I hope your diet pays off soon and you witness a significant reduction in pain. Though my hunch is you might be unsuspiciously consuming a little amount of starch somehow(possibly as an ingredient in some food) and might want to recheck your entire diet as 3 weeks is a pretty long time to have no effects.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Honestly, I'm not even the best person to ask since I'm starting out as well (I don't even like eating chicken on this diet since it's too dry to eat without going back to pre-diet methods of prep -- I mostly eat red meat and eggs), and was hoping someone else would have chimed in by now.

Still, this board does seem to go dead from time to time, since I also had some questions that nobody had the answer to. Maybe some of those foods I had questions about indeed had secret starch that I don't know about.

Good luck!

Hi Tyler, I'm really struggling on this diet as I seem to have issues with far more than just starch. But I have a nice chicken salad recipe which might appeal to you.

I make a dressing with 6Tbs EV olive oil, 1,5Tbs linseed oil, 1,5Tbs honey, 1,5 Tbs soy sauce (check carefully to ensure no wheat or msg content) and 4 Tbs lemon juice. Cut up some chicken breast fillets into thin strips and pour over a little of the dressing to cover. Marinate for a few hours or overnight.

Make up a large plate of salad of your choice, fresh herbs like basil or parsley are nice with it. Drain the marinade from the chicken strips and dry them off (discard the marinade), then coat them in sesame seeds and fry quickly over a high heat - don't let them overcook or become tough. Serve them warm ontop of your salad and cover with lashings of dressing.

This has been one of my favourite recipes for close to 30 years - I'm making it more often these days because I don't know what else to eat! Good luck and let me know if it sounds good to you!

I think coconut aminos might work in place of soy sauce.

Thanks for replying.
Yeah, little activity here these days. I think this was an extremely active forum pre 2010 as a lot of content dates back to that period. Still a wonderful repository of information.
I will also take a look at your queries and chip in if I have any answers.

Thanks Janclebro for suggesting a detailed recipe which sounds wonderful. I'll definitely try this out the next time I have chicken.

Onions are iffy for me, tomatoes are a no-no. Curry is definitely problematic. Most spices are inherently starchy and as such are off-limits for me.


From my perspective, this is doubtful. I believe it's how it's prepared versus the actual protein itself. As I indicated above, "curry style" preparation is likely going to be problematic.

One way to check, get a bottle of iodine and put drops into the seasonings or things you add to the chicken. If they turn black, it's starchy and likely problematic.


For me, it took me awhile to develop some chops in the chicken, but I've found that roasting a whole chicken is a fairly economic way to eat chicken. A whole chicken can last me 5-6 meals, easy.
My recipe:
Take juice from 4-5 lemons
Stuff cavity of chicken with the lemon skin shells
Drizzle/coat juice of lemon over chicken
Drizzle/coat olive oil over chicken
Liberally salt chicken all over
Add fresh rosemary (+ sage and thyme if available)
(If you can tolerate, add a couple of slices of butter to the top of the chicken)
Roast in oven for about 1'20-25" @ 420-425 degrees depending on the size of the chicken


Your weight will eventually revert and stabilize. I was 155 lbs when I started the diet and dropped all the way to 128 lbs trying to figure out what I could eat. Ultimately, 9 years into the diet, I have gained all my weight back and I'm not doing anything radically different. My body has adjusted to a ketogenic diet. Just make sure you are eating enough healthy fats and enough non-starchy carbohydrates.

Best of luck!

Hey FormerFoodie,

Thank you for your reply and for easing my concern and reaffirming my faith that it must have been caused due to the extras in the preparation. I for sure will try out your detailed chicken recipe which looks great.



This is exactly where I think I have been lacking. What additions do you suggest for healthy fats apart from coconut cream, EV Olive Oil, eggs, flax seeds(this too might be shady on a flare)?

And what for non-starchy carbs in addition to fruits and nuts? I've also given up on fruits like apples, pears and a few others due to concerns of them possibly being plucked when unripe and hence starchy though most respond negatively to the iodine test.

Thanks and Regards.

Tyler26, only thing I eat fat in besides what you listed is avocado. However, I am just starting as well so I can't tell if the diet works until I am on it for some time. I just realized my probiotcs had starch in them so I ordered different ones. Seems like starch is in everything and we need to be very careful in what we eat. My chicken seasoning has starch in it so I switched to Himalayan salt, pepper and oregano.

I only eat blueberries for fruit, rest is broccoli, red cabbage, kale, spinach, ginger, eggs, cilantro, lettuce, blanched almonds, and Paleo Egg Protein unflavored shakes (nasty tasting but the cleanest I can find). Olive oil, eggs, avocado, sardines in olive oil, coconut oil and UDOs 3-6-9 oil mix (flax seed oil, sunflower seed oil, sesame seed oil, coconut oil, evening primrose seed oil, rice bran oil, soy lecithin, oat bran oil, mixed tocopherols).

I emailed the company about UDO's oil and they said there is no starch in it and I tested it with iodine and shows fine but maybe someone who knows can advise on this.

I also take multivitamins, HMB, claritin for allergies, glucosamine and calcium-magnesium-D3 pills. Also, I add vitamin C powder to my water.