Hi,

I am new to low carbing, in my fifth week and doing good except for acne and constipation which I have had since in my teens. I have been on a high fiber regime which has not worked at all! Used to eat prunes to get things going, but prunes are not allowed in the quantity i need for relief. I have read and read posts, and visited Kent's website following all kinds of links for hours last night and today. What a great site!!! Kent if you happen to read this I just want to tell you thanks for all those links, I am sure that was a lot of work. To anyone else here, you should check it out, if you haven't already.

Anyway, I am on a mission! Also just finished a 5 day course of antibiotics for a bad tooth. I am determined to make these changes today, already have starting with breakfast.

I have decided to start today following many tenents of Kents' website and have made a list of things to get at the store. I am disabled and low income, so I could use some input on what to buy first. Also I would appreciate any input as to supplements I am taking, or need to take. Any other advise at all is much appreciated.

Shoppping list

Beef, chicken, salmon, sardines, turkey, eggs, (all minimally processed) grain fed beef if I can find it.

Coconut oil, shredded unsweetend coconut, coconut milk, Thai cookbook from library, already have butter, olive oil.

Carlson's lemon flavored cod liver oil
Morton's salt substitute

Veggies - Low starch, have romaine lettuce, celery, spinach, onions, garlic, green onions, green beans. Need asparagus and What else? Can I have Mushrooms?

Fruit, already have avocados, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries all unsweetened. How much per day? Lemon or lime juice for cooking ok?

Desitin for acne - What is the active ingredient so I buy store brand?

I have probiotics, magnesium, chromium, vit c, multivitamin, vit e, alpha lipoic acid, and a bunch of other supps I haven't used lately. Anything really important I should buy?

Things I should avoid.

Soy, fiber supplements, grapefruits, oranges, milk, wheat, grains, rice, beans, peanuts, legumes, processed cheeses, cottage cheese, microwaving, sugar, artificial sugar, nitrates and other chemicals, cooking oils and fats other than olive oil, coconut, butter. Did I forget anything important?

Any input whatsoever is greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure about your spacific LC plan. For candidia though I would avoid the lemon juice and mushrooms. For veggies there are tons of things. I normally eat alot of bagged salad (spring mix), zuchinni, broccoli, cauliflower, jimica, and quite a few others. You might look at the Atkins site under induction allowed foods. I know your not on that diet, but it could give you an idea of a ton of low carb veggies.
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-464579.html

For the berries, it depends on your plan. I mix mine in yogurt, and you may want to do the same as yogurt helps to treat candidia and is a great LC food. Just make sure to get whole milk unsweetened with 3-5 or more live bacteria. On the avacado you may want to start with 1/2 a day, and up it to a whole one if you don't have stall sin weight loss. I'm not sure if loss is your goal right now, or to clear up the other issues It's another food loaded with healthy fats.

On the salmon, just be sure not to get smoked. Regular salmon filetts have a ton of healthy fats and are the fish richest inn Omega-3's.

One of the first things I would get is the whole milk yogurt. You already have quite a few veggies, so just buy what you'd like to accompany your protien serving.

For sweetner, if you can find it get stevia with fiber. It is found with suppliments, not with other sweetners usually as it is not a grocery item. Stevia doesn't feed the yeast, and the type of fiber used as filler promotes good bacteria in the intestines.

Morning Deb,
I would advise you to try not to get off cheap with the stevia - the cheaper stuff is often bitter and you have to use more of it.

Mail order is the way to go on all supplements - I like vitacost.com and iherb.com, they are the chepest for quality products. Buying cheaper stuff from the regular grocery store or Walmart type store often leaves you with a less potent product incuding undesirable fillers. With the better stuff you can get the same effect without having to take as much, too.

Also on the whole milk yogurt (i'm sure you know this ) - only the plain is ok on Schwarzbein since all the other flavors are sweetened. Also, sugar of any sort would be counterproductive if you're working on the other stuff.

I've read that any fishoil products you buy, nowadays, should be ultra-filtered to take out the harmful metals since the fish population is growing more and more contaminated. If your codliver oil has much cholesterol, this is a good indictation that all the impurities, including mercury and other such dangers things, have NOT been filtered out.

http://www.mercola.com/2002/dec/14/mercury_fish.htm

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press...0616095350.html

I BELIEVE Wanda, on our SP forum, is so contaminated with mercury from eating fish, that she is no longer allowed to consume it.

I don't mean to put too much bad news forth, since I don't want you to lose your momentum! just thought you'd like weigh the info yourself. The mercola site, above, has some really useful info on all sorts of stuff like this, including Splenda and Nutrasweet info.

I, too, am on a budget so I can totally empathize!

Best of luck (to all of us!) on this journey.
Jinx

Ps here's a link for orange AND mint cod liver oil! YUUUMMMMM!!

http://www.vitacost.com/store/produ....x=2&submit.y=8

Hi Deb,

This is Kent. Thanks for the kind words.

I see several things on your food list that are on my "Forbidden Foods" list. You can eat the berries and delay your IBS diet start, but when they are gone please don't buy any more fruit of any kind. The avocados being the exception.

Raw vegetables are a no-no on the "Starting Diet." Many people have immediate adverse reactions from raw lettuce. Forget raw salads until after you are much better and can test each food one at a time.

I strongly recommend you not eat any yogurt of any kind, period. Many people with IBS on another message board report bad reactions from yogurt that is susposed to be a special 24 recipe and low lactose, but it isn't as claimed. You may be lactose intolerant and don't know it. Take a liquid or tablet probiotic with live bacteria that is found in the cooler section of the health food store.

Eating just one "Forbidden Food" can prevent your healing and make it seem like the diet is not working at all.

Check to see how you do on the Dr. Crooke's Candida test and delete those foods to be avoided if you are. Check my page again for the anti-cantida foods. Use CTRL-F to search the word "Candida".

You are right about the fiber. It only makes things worse. The diet will give you normal bowel movements as soon as you begin to heal. It could be very quickly.

Keep us up to date on your progress and good luck,

Kent

LadyBelle, MsJinks, Kent,

Thank you all for your great information. there are certainly alot of angels in this forum.

I took Dr. Crook's candida test and scored 48, so I don't think yeast is a problem for me, only the IBS. Does this change any of your recommendations?

I will stop on the yogurt, fruit, and uncooked veggies for now. My best freind has 2 guinea pigs so I will let her raid my fridge. My berries are all frozen so I can save them for later.

I am taking a probiotic, but it is not the kind from the cooler section, but when this bottle is gone I will go back for the other kind. As far as the stevia goes, I use a whole leaf kind with no fillers, also I am growing a stevia plant for future use! The plant is a lot less expensive and I tested it, it is sweet! Not very many leaves on it yet and there was only one plant left at the store so I could not pick and choose.

I know what you mean on the mercury levels of fish. I have always keep informed on environmental issues, and have taken courses in environmental biology and environmental writing. In fact I got an "A" on an essay that I did on improving pollution levels from coal plants. If you want to read it I will send it too your private box as it is an environmental issue and most people here may not care to read it. I do research at home all the time and will put solar on my house as soon as I can afford to buy the house.

Anyway, I try to eat sardines once a week and salmon once a week. I know wild salmon probably has some mercury, do you know if farm raised does? I eat canned tuna once a month or two, usually chunk light, no albacore. I haven't bought the cod liver oil yet, but will buy the carlson brand.

Also I live in California, so I have to be conscious of fresh water fish from the area too! The gold mining industries prevalent here in the past put alot of mercury into the streams. The San Francisco bay, which I could almost walk to from my home, is polluted with mercury and it is advised not to eat anything from the bay! It is a travesty.

Thanks again for all your input! I am really enjoying the exchange of ideas that this forum allows. I thought I was well informed before I came here, but as the saying goes, you learn something new every day. In this forum, you can learn many things every day!!!

deb

Deb,

Check out this thread for a discussion on vitamin and minerals.

Dr. Crook's Candida Test.

Kent