Kickas.org Forums Thread Like Summary - Seeking Advice: Why Did the No-Starch Diet Work Be

Hi everyone,

Im a 22 year old male reaching out to see if anyone has insight into my situation. Earlier this year, the no-starch carnivore diet worked like a miracle for me, but upon trying it for the past 4.5 months, it hasn’t been effective, and I can’t figure out why. Here’s a bit of background to provide some context:

I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in June 2023 after a relatively quick diagnostic process. My pain started in my lower back, glutes, and chest, and I initially thought I’d overworked myself at my new hospitality job. However, the pain kept escalating until I was bedridden.

Fortunately, my primary care doctor acted quickly, referring me to a rheumatologist within a few months. Based on my symptoms, positive HLA-B27 test results, active SI joint inflammation on MRI, and elevated inflammatory markers, my AS diagnosis was confirmed.

At the time, I had flights for my overseas experience around Europe in late August, so I pushed hard for a relief. Very fortunatly a combination of 2g sulfasalazine, 400mg celebrex, and 10 mg prednisone made me feel like new! I was able to travel almost pain free for 3 months, begin able to endure 30k steps daily at times.

When I returned, I began researching long-term solutions, as I’d heard about the risks of chronic prednisone use were brutal. That’s when I discovered Mikhaila Peterson and decided to try the carnivore diet. To my amazement, my joint pain completely disappeared within four days, a miracle.

However, the diet caused issues with my lungs to feel fuzzy and make breathing feel a bit awkward. Eventually I tried to reintroduce others foods, I tried a few different foods that I thought were pretty safe. This included apples, kiwis and lettuce salad which initially didn’t seem to cause harm and actually helped my breathing feel normal again. Overtime my pain seemed to increase after introducing many foods. I experimented for a while with just fruits, vege and meat but my body didn’t like it.

I gave carnivore another shot a few months later, and again, it worked like magic—pain gone in four days. This time, I stuck with it a bit longer but again found the food introductions caused me pain. I think I may have added a few starches in such as potatoes which I now understand may have been a large factor.

Frustrated that I couldn’t find a solution whilst I was eating only healthy foods. I returned to eating much more variety and eating home cooked meals with my family again with many containing a lot of starches like rice or potato.

This year has essentially been a research project and I’m grateful how much I’ve learned and grateful I found this website where the success stories are very motivating for me to keep going. I feel like this time I am a lot more informed on what foods are safe to reintroduce after reading Dr. Ebringer work. This leads me to the current day being 4.5 months no starch carnivore, but this time, it hasn’t really helped at all. My pain persists, and my joints flare up even with light activity like walking. I am perplexed and can’t seem to figure out why I’m not getting results. I’ve had to give up many all the things I love, such arts, football, running, and the gym which has been very fruatrating.

The no starch carnivore diet gave me complete remission twice earlier this year and within 4 days each, yet now it’s doing nothing. I can’t think of anything I’ve changed. I’m on the same medication and eating exactly the same food. The only reason I’ve stuck with it for this long is that I know it worked for me before.

I do not want to go on biologics and I’m determined to do anything to feel better and reclaim my life and routine. If that means restricting my diet for the rest of my life, I’m prepared to do it.

Does anyone have any ideas why the diet worked so well before but not now? Am I missing something? Has anyone experienced something similar or come across research that might explain this? Any advice or theories would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post but thank you so much for taking the time to read this.

Ryan

Did you see my couple of post here: https://kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbth...nd-possibly-a-better-solution#Post520850

I've read about many people like yourself (age and severity), probably best if you enlist the advice of Dragonslayer, and you might want to look into antibiotics.

Dude, if you have Sibo (hard to tell, but you probably do) and the fruits are causing this bad of a reaction. I would stay clear of all things that contain sugar...

Probably best if you try to introduce some fermented foods, like sauerkraut and other vegetables that are part of a low FODMAP diet.

Stay clear of fruits for now, probably best if you try a Keto diet, since that is a bit more unrestricted than carnivore and avoids sugars, though I recommend you keep away from the dairy for now...

BTW digestive issues and flares are a clear sign of an overgrowth like SIBO. I believe many people do good with Keto because they are avoiding carbs (starches) and sugars...

Best of luck, keep us updated...

Hi Ryan

You could try using natural antimicrobials. I have used many over the years, including oregano oil, citricidal, olive leaf extract etc etc. It can be difficult to tell the difference between a yeast overgrowth and a bacterial overgrowth, so you might need to Google all your symptoms to find out which it is. Fortunately many of the antimicrobials will treat both.

Then it can be a case of learning what your particular triggers are. It took me a long time to work out that I'm less prone to SIBO if I completely stop eating between meals. I think a reason for this might be that constant eating is more likely to keep the ileo-caecal valve open, allowing free passage of bacteria into the small intestine. My overall health has improved since I took this approach.

There is so much to learn. It's a good idea to take notes as you go along, and to find somewhere to save important articles so that you can reread them later. Don't be despondent if your progress seems slow - it's a journey for all of us.

Wishing you a super Christmas, and I hope 2025 brings you the answers you need. Don't give up!

Kind regards
Jane