seekhelp
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 15067
posted
Is the bottom line if one eats sugar, does not have a clean diet, and other unhealthy lifestyle issues (not smoking or drinking) that you just don't beat chronic Lyme? Is it this simple period? I understand nearly no one here ever wins this battle and this board is as depressing as it can get in that respect.
I'm trying to understand if your recovery odds, regardless of Abx/anti-malarial treatments, go from 50% to 2% if you don't eat sugar-free and other necessities.
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
I did not eat sugar. I still eat only a minimal amount and when I do it's generally honey or maple syrup.
I don't know the odds, but I don't think eating an unhealthy diet will keep a non-Lymie healthy.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
I think it depends on the person. I have two friends in remission and they never changed their diet...ate sugar and both still drank beer during treatment.
I tend to be one that reacts to sugar if I have too much of it- so it is something I have cut out since getting sick. However, I am far from being well. It is just one piece to the puzzle for me.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- A little sugar now and the, with a meal will not destroy chances of every getting well. And, sometimes - as during a porphyria attack - sugar can actually save a life. For someone with a sharp drop in blood sugar, glucose may be the thing that works fastest to get them back up. The brain needs certain sugars or it will die.
But, normally, when not an emergency like that, it's the complex sugars in real food from the earth that work best.
Still, an ounce or so of very dark chocolate (72% or higher), the sugar content is comparatively low but still is best taken after a meal or with nuts (protein and fats) for a better glycemic balance.
If, however, on abx, sugar does feed candida. If taken regularly in excess it can also create a negative balance with spikes and dips with glucose. That can be very hard on any one.
But, with lyme, our bodies generally cannot process sugar as someone else can. That makes it much harder.
Now, most people consume far more sugar than one or two ounces of very dark chocolate or say, a tsp of honey in a cup of tea. The key is the amount, the type, what other nutrition is taken along with it. And - prevention of candida - can be approached from many ways. Olive leaf extract really helps.
The key is balance - or a healthy blood sugar and for an good interior terrain, so to speak. For times when temptation hits or a cookie lands in one's mouth by accident, then balancing out with good food to follow helps the body to correct.
Rather than processed sugars, real food is what the body really wants. Enjoy some crisp apples, berries, even dark cherries, etc.
A little bit of dark chocolate chips mixed in with all sorts of nuts and a few raisins or dried cranberries, etc.
Don't deprive yourself of some sweet, flavorful foods - just get the real thing, and plenty of variety of vegetables, non-gluten grains, proteins, etc.
Lyme or not, real food is what a body needs. It should not have to be a fight. If all the packaged foods disappeared tomorrow, we could still eat very well, enjoy it and thrive.
It's not about deprivation. It's about giving our cells food the require. But It's also about enjoying a balance of fantastic flavors and a rich variety. -
[ 01-03-2010, 11:08 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
A very respected pedi LLMD told me he noticed no difference between kids that ate sugar and those that didn't. He didn't say anything about diet at all until I asked about the sugar.
Posts: 984 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007
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GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
I ate everything - and drank everything - all in balance, and mostly selecting foods that we grew up with. I baked and cooked as I did for many years. I do not use artificial sugar, but organic cane sugar and I usually half of what some recipes call for. And I ate a lot of fruits and vegetables. No day goes by without that.
"Prepared food" I try to avoid, because they always contain substances that I do not care for. But when I get tired of cooking at times, I will use some.
Most of the problems that many are unaware of is allergies, mainly wheat, gluten, soy, corn, all fungi, mucor, penicillins, most bad metals, and many chemical groups, including pesticides and insecticides.
It took me a while to figure this out, but this is where the problem comes in with many chronic diseases. Lyme happens to become one of them. These allergies cause dysregulations at the DNA level which can be easily corrected. Detoxification is very difficult under these conditions; instead we accumulate even more to the already existing burden the body is unable to cope with. Literally all Lyme people from LN and friends who have Lyme who have taken the AI test have these results.
If allergic to wheat and major basic foods, and heavy metals and the hundreds of chemicals, getting totally well is in my opinion not possible. These allergic reactions run the show 24/7; we keep the toxins that we have and add more. The immune system is blind to these toxins, doesn't recognize them any longer or never did if born with them, and we store them until we run out of healthy space. Most chemicals are involved in the processing of foods we eat and cannot be avoided. So whether you dysregulate because of a food or the chemicals involved doesn't make much difference. We are very toxic and the only way out is to try to change that. AI does it beautifully.
Please read the Allergy Immun thread and read the website which I have posted many times. You can get their client study if you write them and a sample form of what the test looks like when you get it back.
Don't overlook this - it's worth a small fortune. I will have my whole family on it soon, because all our grandchildren are born with allergies, the major and worst one is wheat because they start the malabsorption problem very early in life. If wheat is a problem, dairy follows because the cows eat the grain, and eggs is next because the chicken consume grain. It's all about frequency information stored in the DNA.
Take care.
P.S. No day goes by without a piece of chocolate.
P.P.S. I think moderation is the key, after getting rid of the allergies.
Posts: 9834 | From Washington State | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
personally, i think if u have a candida issue which most lymies do, then its an issue--but otherwise, not sure.. i also know alot of people who didn't change their diet-- i in fact had to ask my respectable llmd about the diet once i had 3 appts w/him (he had previously not mentioned it)
Posts: 245 | From East Brunswick, NJ | Registered: Oct 2008
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canefan17
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 22149
posted
I would most definitely recommend you NOT eat sweets.
I could go into detail... but avoid sweets and straight sugar at all costs.
It's just soooo bad for our, already depleted, bodies.
I have a friend who has rashes/fungi all over his body. He's dumbfounded why it won't go away. Yet he's a sugar fiend!
He's basically feeding the fungi what it wants.
Posts: 5394 | From Houston, Tx | Registered: Aug 2009
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Amanda
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 14107
posted
I have been really good at times, and really bad at other times, and I haven't noticed any correlation between how I feel, or my immune cell counts (whihc are always low).
i went on a binge , and I ate sugar, and I mean orange slices, M'Ms, ice cream, every day three times a day, about six months ago. And when I had my blood work done at the end of that, for the first time in 4 years, my immune cell counts were almost in normal range.
Not that I think the sugar caused that improvement (which turned out to last only three moths), but it certainly seemed to disprove the "sugar makes lyme worse" hypothosis for me at least.
But I make an effort to watch sugar and carbs, because I don't want yeast issues...
-------------------- "few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" - Mark Twain Posts: 1008 | From US | Registered: Dec 2007
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Lauralyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15021
posted
I can't touch sugar..... I suffer devastating consequences from it. I'm jealous that you guys CAN eat it!
With that said though I agree with Canefan
-------------------- Fall down seven times, get up eight ~Japanese proverb Posts: 1146 | From west coast | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
I think it is an individual issue and not an easy rule that you will or will not get better by eliminating sugar.
After a bit over a year of treatment, I'm improved. Not all the way better, but on my way. I didn't stop eating sugar.
I tried a couple of times to do very low sugar and reduced card eating, and I felt awful. My weakness, fatigue, and inability to concentrate were all much worse with no sugar in my diet. I couldn't exercise, and my BP got very low and I often felt faint.
I also never gave up coffee. It not only helps get me up and out of the house, but also really helps my joints and circulation in the AM.
In general, I do eat better than before I got sick. I try to shop the perimeter of the store and avoid the processed foods. Just common sense stuff and as much self control as I can muster. I do cheat, but mostly in moderation. I also quit smoking and drinking, both before my dx.
I wouldn't impose my ways on others, but since you asked, this has been my approach and it does not seem to prevent my improvement with treatment for Lyme and Co.
Posts: 455 | From Was in PA, then MD, now in the Midwest | Registered: Nov 2008
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
I cut back on sugar, especially in the beginning of treatment. But I live in a family of bakers and children, and in the last year often cheat with ice cream, cookies and chocolate.
It has not affected my recovery from lyme and TBD, but it does mean that I need to use more garlic, candex and nystatin to control yeast. I eat sugar in moderation, and feel strongly it has not affected my recovery.
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
Before I was diagnosed I was on the holidays sugar binge and that is what I believe brought my crash. The day I was diagnosed I swore off sugar. That was two years ago. I still get some in a few things like Danactive. I also allow myself honey and maple syrup and they are fairly good for you and so expensive I can't afford to overindulge, at least not every day. I think it would be better If I concentrated on vegetables but that just doesn't make much of an impression on me. I am a crab addict.
If you have cancer and they do a CT scan, you are given radioactive glucose which they can then track the uptake of in your cells. Where the glucose is most concentrated is where the cancer cells are thriving, having a sugar party. Bacteria are the same way. They thrive on sugar. I have wondered, why not give us a CT scan to locate the colonies of lyme and then send the abx directly there.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
I never restricted my diet and got well. However, I tried to make sure I ate plenty of healthy foods in addition to my nightly bowls of ice cream, etc. If I wanted to drink and felt well enough, I would have one periodically.
I did experiment with being gluten free for a period of time but didn't feel any better.
Posts: 561 | From mass | Registered: Jul 2007
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springshowers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19863
posted
Has anyone tracked your Glucose Levels by watching your test results ongoing when your doctor give you your full blood work evaluations..
I have.. And my glucose is always high every single time no matter what my diet is.. i am worried about that..
Posts: 2747 | From Unites States Of America | Registered: Apr 2009
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
My personal opinion is that a good diet has to be good for you; but don't think it is the determining factor as to whether you get well or not.
I have not made myself miserable depriving myself of things I like to eat.
I eat less sugar than I use to, but still eat plenty of carbs, (because I lost so much weight). I juice veggies a few times a week, but some weeks I have skipped it. I guess I eat healthy in moderation.
Haven't seen any real proof where eating a super strict diet has cured anyone of LD; but I do believe a strict diet is a healthy diet. Just very hard for some of us to follow. And it takes all the fun out of eating!
There are those stories where ppl believe that juicing fruits and veggies has cured them of cancer. So it does make one think.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I like to think of it as being born again. We kill
so many cells getting rid of the borrelia that are
inside the cells, then our bodies have to make
new cells for all body functions. Newborn babies
whose bodies are in overdrive for excelerated
growth cycles do not get fed sugars for at least
the first year, and what they get from mothers
milk is not what we get out of a bag. I think it
may be very important to not have that sugar
going in to disrupt cellular functions. But I
am human and weak and I still like my ice-cream.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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1 cup Half and Half 1/3to 1/2 cup very dark chocolate, 77-90% 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Blend, freeze, remove from freezer at least 1/2 hour before you want to eat it. Tastes like a Mounds bar.
Makes 2-4 servings. High calorie, but low carb/sugar.
(You can also do this with just Half and Half and frozen strawberries or blueberries, but it's not as much fun.)
Posts: 204 | From ma | Registered: May 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- The smoothest dark chocolate I've found is Green & Blacks 82% Organic Dark Chocolate.
Many, at that number are chalky and bitter. Not at all with this one.
This "ice cream" can also be made with yogurt. If using low fat yogurt, add some guar gum (first mix it in small dish with a little liquid, then add).
As bystander mentions, frozen berries also make a very nice "ice cream" with any kind of milk. Guar gum can be added but, if to consume immediately, it is not necessary. I find a food processor easier for this than using a blender when using fruit.
The food processor stirs it all around so much easier and it can be thicker than if in a blender.
For more sweetness, experiment with pure stevia (Truvia is NOT just stevia, BTW) and/ or then maybe add a touch of AGAVE nectar, which is supposed to not cause a spike in blood glucose (but it does seem to drop me later, so I use it only lightly). -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
Man those sound good. Anyone tried putting almond
milk in it. I have tried the hazelnut butter-it is
rich and chocolaty. OH OH throw in some pistashios
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Can those of you who are experiencing an intolerance or allergic reaction to Gluten and/or dairy please specify the types of symptoms you feel. Muscle pain, fatigue, gas, etc?
I believe I have developed an allergy and would like to compare my symptoms with what you many of you may be experiencing.
-------------------- Cathy Posts: 11 | From Central Florida | Registered: Jun 2009
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posted
Sugar by itself is not a bad thing. The body needs a fair amount of it to function. The issue is really how much and from what sources, and if you have any sort of allergy or difficulty processing them because of the disease. I think it is entirely possible to restrict artificially refined sources and choose better options - organic sugar from sugar cane instead of high fructose corn syrup, for instance. Honey and agave nectar are good sources of sugars with additional health benefits as well.
I'm generally against any sort of long term "starving the pathogen" therapies as they all have questionable results, if any. These organisms need much of the same nutrients to function that we do and they do so with minuscule needs compared to us.
Thus, long term restriction of these nutrients will leave our bodies starving and much less able to fight the infection, while the pathogens will be getting along just fine.
This is not to say abstaining from certain things for a couple of days to give a certain medicine a better chance to work on say, yeast, is not advisable. However, the main action is because of the treatment, not because you kept away from a nutrient for a day or two.
Posts: 691 | From East coast, USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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