My LLND recommended low sugar diet, which i've been maintaining rather well I think since starting treatment. Of course i treat myself time to time because its ridiculous for one to be overly restrictive in their diet...that alone can make anyone go nuts.
So....How many grams of sugar a day should us lymies be intaking while trying to kick this disease?
I haven't done a strict count, but id say ballpark I'm around 75g on a decent day?
I have a cut up apple slow cooked with raisins and cinnamon in the morning for breakfast, a gluten free meal replacement shake with 13g of sugar in it, and when I have yogurt I'll have nuts with a few dried fruits thrown in. Otherwise i try to keep everything else restricted to veggies and meat.
Any opinions or info available that I haven't come across yet?
Posted by momlyme (Member # 27775) on :
Firecracker - we are MUCH more restrictive than you. My son has a green apple once or twice a week with organic almond butter or sunflower butter.
In everything else, we use stevia for sweetener. Raisins and all dried fruits are OUT. Once a day he has a smoothie with a 1/4 cup of frozen stawberries, unsweetened organic plain yogurt and stevia... sometimes I add kefir or liquid probiotics to his smoothie.
Tea with stevia
hot chocolate with almond milk, unsweetened cocoa and stevia
etc.
When he eats sugar (he snuck some on halloween) he doubles over in pain... so he doesn't do it very often.
That means no juice, no cane sugar in gluten free products & reading every label. It's so important to his health.
Grandma bought him some gluten free chocolate chip cookies... he was violently ill. I learned to make gluten free, sugar free carob chip cookies... he can eat 2-3 at a sitting with no problem.
It all depends on what your body tolerates. How do you feel when you eat things with sugar? If you feel alright with your current diet, stay with it. If not, change it.
Posted by ninjaphire (Member # 18234) on :
75g of sugar is a lot. That's the amount of sugar in 2 cans of soda.
Sugar is known to suppress the immune system, and us lymies need to keep our immune system top notch. I'm going to suggest that the best way is to stop eating it. Even drastically reduce fruit intake.
- It's very complex. There are turns and twists, of course. Nothing with lyme is simple. Sorry my questions or concerns are not in any sort of order. The difference in how the body metabolizes different forms of sugar is huge.
And there can be a huge difference in a diet that is low to moderate on the glycemic index and in a low sugar diet. It has to do with source and combination of foods for the total effect.
IMO, the goal is for low to moderate glycemic index.
Still, with some (or many ?) lyme patients, porphyria can be a complicating factor. Even refined sugar may be needed at times and yes, it can save a life if porphyhria is involved. See link below.
However, when one is on antibiotics (abx), candida (system yeast) infections can flourish in the presence of any simple sugars (unless maybe just a bit at the end of a balanced meal and IF on Olive Leaf Extract or a similar anti-fungal agent).
Low sugar, meaning processed, refined sugar?
Or natural complex sugars as in fruit?
With fruit, it is best to go only with fresh, low sugar fruits like tart apples and dark berries. Forget the dried fruits as they are just loaded with sugars that raise the glycemic impact.
I cannot do this justice, however, it is a topic that needs to be "refined" so to speak. We'd all like to think it's black and white but it is not if there are elevated porphryins involved.
Candida is best prevented from the get-go. Candida is a very bad thing to have develop.
Then: if you think porphyrins might be a problem, find a way to consider both but in the most healthful way possible. 'Tis not easy. But knowing about the importance of glucose in an emergency can save a life. And by NOT dieting and NOT restricting sugars too much one might prevent a dangerous state.
Search: Glycemic Index
I think by studying the glycemic index and learning about complex carbohydrates, that a decent middle ground can be found.
To help prevent Candida - in addition to diet of no more than 5 grams of processed sugar a day in one ounce of 85% dark chocolate to help keep porphyria a bit at bay -- I have found no better help than with Olive Leaf Extract for the times when I was on abx. But, my path has not included more than a 2 month time span on abx.
My case is somewhat unique, however, in the Secondary Porphyria post be sure to note the similarities between a herx and an porphyria attack. Coincidence? I think not.
But I cringe at the diet listed in that post.
I still don't understand glucose. It's not necessarily going to work to eat fructose if glucose is required to treat porphyria. There is still much to learn and I so wish that someone would come up with the best advice for someone who deals with all of this because I think that for many lyme patients, it's just not so simple.
I do best with non-gluten whole grains and legumes such as lentils (which can be delicious a million different ways). When I tried to eliminate all grains, I kept passing out, having seizures, etc. Vegetables did not provide the complex carb longevity for me. But I steer clear of processed, packed gluten-free foods as most are just sky high on the glycemic index.
Another reason to adhere to low to moderate glycemic index is that lyme patients are more at risk of developing diabetes. So we have to be ever vigilant - but our bodies and brains still need complex carbohydrates - and even glucose - in order to live. It is very complex, indeed. -
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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She has program on the PBS network "Create" a couple times week. Check your PBS schedule.
To adapt: in the rare dishes where she uses wheat flour, it can just be left out for a fruit medley, etc. Brown Rice Pasta can be substituted (Tinkyada or Trader Joe's). Quinoa and the dark rices can also be used.
But she focuses mostly on very filling vegetable dishes and garden herbs.
Regarding her use of brown rice syrup, just leave it out and add a touch of stevia at the end.
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==========================
MEDITERRANEAN DIET (minus the wheat and the wine) is also good. It's many vegetable based, with delicious herbs in the meat dishes. Quinoa, dark rices - and unsweetened pomegranate juice can be substituted.
Look up Black Forbidden Chinese Rice & the Red Bhutanese Rice. The nutritional content is excellent and these will help fill and fortify you, even in moderation, along with lots of vegetables.
Red Quinoa Recipes -
Posted by FYRECRACKER (Member # 28568) on :
You are right Keebler, I didn't refine my question really. I should clarify that i have ZERO refined sugars included in my diet. I am extremely strict about that. I don't even do the gluten free deserts unless its a rare occasion and i feel like I'm doing ok.
With that said, I have a feeling I'm not "as bad" as some lyme patients out there with extremely severe symptoms.
I'm 26 and yes, while I do have a complex case being infected for 8 years, the fact I've been untreated for that long...I don't have as severe of symptoms as others might. I mostly have stiffness, fibromyalgia type pain, sleep disturbances and gut problems.
I've thoroughly researched candida and was on a restrictive diet when I didn't know i had lyme. My symptoms of course were exacerbated at that point.
Again, I have no idea if I'm even around 75g of complex sugars a day or not, i haven't kept a detailed record. But i was including sugars from things like even carrots and the cooked apple/raisins.
I do absolutely no breads at all and stick to mostly meat, fish and veggies, which i do good with.
I am 5'8 at 118 lbs soaking wet. While some people think i look like a model...i think i'm just too dang skinny. I've quit all caffeine (except for an occasional black coffee, and by occasional...once or twice a month), not a drop of alcohol except for what little traces are found in Kombucha, and I eat other sources of probiotics on a regular basis (Kimchee, Kefir).
I don't find I react to the sugars in the cooked apple in the morning. Now if i dont cook it...yes..i would get heartburn all the way up to my head if i ate that on an empty stomach.
Sorry so long... but maybe this clarifies what I'm asking?
And thanks Keeb for all of the great recipe posts! I try to cook out of my candida book.