# SIBO, Leaky Gut, Candida, H.Pylori - yes, you have all of these



## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

It doesn't really matter what you have. If you have ISB you have some form of dysbiosis. It is difficult to separate the symptoms of all possible IBS causes - SIBO, Leaky Gut, Candida, H.Pylori as all can all produce symptoms of gas, constipation or diarrhea. All of these conditions can affect the immune system and damage the colon. Once the health of your gut has been compromised then it is more vulnerable to invasion by other pathogens. There is a very strong correlation between all of these conditions and more often than not they exist side by side. If you have tested positive to one of these conditions, there's a very good chance you have one or more of the other conditions as well.

The main symptoms of IBS are gas, constipation and diarrhea. IBS as a diagnosis is really meaningless. IBS just means that there is no known cause for your symptoms. IBS is generally accepted to be caused by a dysbiosis of pathogens, or by SIBO (which may or may not contain pathogens) in the small intestine.

Gas causes the IBS symptoms of constipation or diarrhea. It is believed that roughly 50% of the population produce the gas, methane. These people could be more prone to constipation as methane is believed to slow colonic transit. Methanogens (archaea) convert the hydrogen byproducts of bacterial fermentation into methane. Dr Pimentel's studies showed that people who produce methane might be more prone to constipation. Breath tests reveal that those with a high hydrogen reading tend to have diarrhea.

Constipation and diarrhea are 2 sides to the one coin. Our genetic make up determines whether or not we're more likely to have constipation or diarrhea if we do have a bacterial imbalance, but in either case the reason is the same: an imbalance of bacteria, either in the wrong place, or a dysbiosis of pathogens over good bacteria.

Is it worthwhile having testing to reveal the exact nature of your dysbiosis? Well, even if you do find out, what are you going to do about it? The only long-term cure that will kill off pathogens is to stop eating the carbohydrates that feed them. This is why IBS is so tough to beat. It's not that we don't know what to do - it's just that a highly restricted diet is very hard to maintain. The good news is that bacteria tends to be relatively short lived. Your microbiome can change drastically anywhere from 2 to 24 hours.

We don't know what pathogens we actually have, but we have a pretty good idea that they're there. I've found it just saves a lot of time and is a lot easier overall to just assume that you have every one of these conditions - SIBO, H.Pylori, Candida, Leaky Gut and find what allowable foods are common for all of their diets. What's left is a very basic healing diet of low FODMAP vegetables such as green beans, carrots, pumpkin, bok choi, seafood and meat. And that's it. No grains at all. No fruit. No dairy. No sugar of any type. This is not a permanent diet!

None of these diets expressly ban high fibre, insoluble fibre or salad vegetables. There are no studies that indicate that fibre from non-toxic sources are bad for you. However a lot depends of your individual level of gut inflammation. Some of us have severely damaged colons, others not so much. Salad vegetables and low FODMAP vegetables are not toxic to the human body, but if you have any gut damage at all, the short chain fatty acids from carbohydrate fermentation can be inflammatory and make symptoms worse. This is a tough area as we need to eat low FODMAP vegetables. Most people seem to be able to tolerate vegetables if they're very well cooked. The longer the cooking, the more the fibre is broken down.

The foods I mentioned before: low FODMAPs such as carrots, green beans and bok choi are all predominantly insoluble fibre. There is a lot of misinformation about insoluble fibre and IBS, with some commentators saying that insoluble fibre is harmful for IBS. If you are particularly sensitive to vegetables, all fibre can be broken down by longer cooking. Insoluble fibre provides very little food for bacteria, who much prefer sugar, starch and soluble fibre. Insoluble fibre was my saviour.

This healing diet isn't a permanent diet. It's a starting diet to firstly, starve out the pathogens, and then once your IBS symptoms are greatly reduced, you gradually introduce high FODMAPs that are healthy such as cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms, peas etc. Then later on once your IBS symptoms have subsided (it is honestly within 24 hours if strictly adhered to) you could gradually introduce fruit and possible easily digested dairy such as hard cheese.

Don't make the mistake that I made and assume that sugar which is dextrose or glucose is quickly absorbed in the small intestine and therefore not fermented by organisms, as is generally believed. I bought a truckload of glucose lollies from the chemist and will now have to toss them. I found that I still had IBS symptoms when my diet was very good overall, but I allowed myself a good quantity of non-fructose sugar - i.e. glucose. If you have Candida, all sugar is banned. We're assuming in these early stages that we have every gastrointestinal disorder known, including Candida.

Sugar was the last thing I found I had to give up and the hardest. It's very difficult to eat an evening meal without ending it with something sweet. In the early stages, don't eat fruit or any sugars. The important thing is to test out this diet for at least 2 days. I found that the diet worked immediately, in that I had very little gas from the foods I was eating, and evacuation was relatively quick the next morning. The reduction in symptoms should be immediate, meaning very little gas within 4 hours of eating and a complete evacuation the next day.

Certain foods might be toxic for us and should never be reintroduced. Foods such as nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes), lectins and phytates (all the "seed" foods - all grains, legumes and nuts) and sugar. All sugar is inflammatory, not just sugar containing fructose. The safest foods for IBS are vegetables that are well tolerated (with very little gas production), meats and seafood. And that's basically it for your default, healing diet.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

You would like the book by Aglaee Jacob. Her approach is very similar to yours. It didn't work for me. After 9 months of eating only meat, fish, low fodmap veggies and olive oil I was fully symptomatic. Extreme pain and bordering suicide. I reached the extreme of eating only meat and fish and oil for three weeks. It was a mistake.

I suspect that your diet is very good for SIBO but not the best for yeast overgrowth. Paul Jaminet says that starch is needed to fight fungi. I wish I had known that.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Thanks for the information on Aglaee Jacob.

The problem is that if you have Candida you can't be certain you don't also have SIBO, Leaky Gut or any other condition. Too much meat is dangerous and can lead to "rabbit starvation"; I think you already know about this. Too much fat can be irritating too so I don't know how much olive oil you've been using and whether this is a factor for your pain. You could try posting your actual diet if you're still suffering, either on this post or privately. The SCD diet has an introductory diet which is a soup of chicken with carrot slow cooked for 4 hours. This is for people who can't tolerate fibre. I think this is the best type of diet for an inflamed gut. You do need vegetables and you do have to stop eating toxic foods, but you have to gradually get used to the fibre. Airplane, one of the posters here, once said enzymes can take a while to acclimatize to new foods. I've tried finding information on this but drawn a blank.

You can only really understand the IBS that you have and mine is Leaky Gas. I don't have pain issues, chronic constipation or diarrhea, just gas and slow transit constipation if I eat the wrong foods. So I'm not sure why you would experience pain if just eating low FODMAP vegetables, meat & seafood, unless it was too much fibre too soon.

Resistant starch is only a good idea if you don't have an inflamed gut. This lady found that resistant starch made her symptoms much worse for Candida.

http://www.holistichelp.net/blog/candida-sibo-or-h-pylori/

Short chain fatty acids are the byproducts of fibre and resistant starch and in healthy people with no gut issues short chain fatty acids create an acidic environment so the good bacteria thrive. Generally speaking, SCFAs are good for the colon and fight pathogens. But if you malabsorb your carbs then you are creating a lot of gas and a lot of SCFAs. Too many SCFAs are inflammatory and will make things worse. Sue Shepherd did a study on this.

There is a lot of controversy about resistant starch. I tend to listen more to people who actually have IBS and who have largely cured their symptoms through diet. Some experts claim resistant starch feeds SIBO and others not.

Jeff Leach (American Gut Project), is an advocate of resistant starch who doesn't have IBS although I suspect he's on his way of getting this as one of his blogs said that he has several BMs a day and loads of gas. Most people who have actually have IBS tend to disagree with loading up on resistant starch, at least until their gut has healed.

http://digestivehealthinstitute.org/2013/05/10/resistant-starch-friend-or-foe/

We need to experiment with diet to see which foods, and which methods of cooking, reduce your symptoms. You should always be seeing an improvement, not going backwards. This is one of the reasons I'm so against meds as they can mask the symptoms from foods you shouldn't be eating. Maybe try boiling your low FODMAP veges for longer and see if this helps.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

Tummyrumbles, I have been following your posts for a while now and they are always very informative and helpful so I wanted to chime in on this one.

Your thoughts are similar to mine except for the glucose. From most of my reading, personal experience and just general logic I do think glucose is absorbed quickly enough not to be fermented by bacteria. This can be seen by the glycemic index and the immediate rise in blood sugar after glucose is ingested. The faster blood sugar rises the faster the carbs you ate are digested otherwise it would not rise. A diet I highly recommend based on this principal ia the Fast Tract Diet which limits the "fermentation potential" of food based on their carb content and GI.

Now the big n=1 that I have found is using food combining principles. Namely eating carbs 1 hour before or 2-3 hours after your main meal. I have found I react to carbs when I eat them with protein but not away from it. This makes sense when you think about it as protein/fat lower the GI of foods so instead of being digested quickly they sit in the stomach longer and are food for bacteria.

While eating VLC may be helpful to starve the bacteria I dont think it is beneficial to go under 50 carbs per day. For me personally it caused a lot of hormonal/energy problems, sleep and blood sugar (low). Paul Jaminet has some additional theories on the detriments of VLC.

I would also recommend Algaee Jacobs book on digestive healing. While I do not fully agree on her views of sugar (especially dextrose) her book has a lot of great information.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Hello Denis, thanks for replying.

We can't just assume that all glucose is directly absorbed. Just because it raises the blood sugar instantly we don't know what percentage of sugar is actually digested. Candida feeds on all sugar, sucrose, fructose and glucose so if you had Candida residing in your stomach or small intestine it could be fermenting glucose before it gets a chance to be digested. This is the basic premise of SIBO as well: bacteria feed on starches & sugars before they can be digested. Several types of bacteria can live in the stomach, H. Pylori, Candida and quite a few other pathogens. Candida can live in a wide range of pH levels so can adapt to live anywhere from the stomach to the colon although I believe they tend to live in the colon.

It only takes a small amount of malabsorbed carbohydrate to generate a lot of gas, so you don't have to malabsorb much. Before I started this diet I used to have GERD as well, with snoring, sleep apnea, and burping so bad at night I had to sit up frequently. I also had quite pronounced throat gurgling. It was the throat gurgling that made me wonder whether my dysbiosis had moved upwards into my stomach or throat. Since my new diet my GERD symptoms have all but disappeared. Both Candida and H. Pylori can release toxins that lower the pH of the stomach and make it more alkaline. So if you have one pathogen living in your stomach or small intestine you can see how an alkaline environment would encourage other pathogens.

This is why I don't have any firms views on what kind of bacterial dysbiosis I actually have or where they reside because they all seem to gang up anyway. I just know that I ate a fair amount of dextrose lollies one day and got fairly immediate gas and I believe I had completely evacuated that morning. Something caused all that gas and it was only a handful of lollies. This is why I think a tough diet like this is best, that excludes sugar as well as starches and high FODMAPs.

Food combining is a contentious topic but generally for IBS if you're going to eat a lot of insoluble fibre I think it helps to eat meat or fish with it, but you have to do whatever works for you.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

You are correct however Candida can also feed on ketones which would be produced on a vlc diet. While you are absolutely right about malabsorbed carbohydrate (The Fast Tract Diet is based on this), at least for SIBO if thr glucose is absorbed quickly in the gut it does not have time to reach the small intestine and be fermented. What works for me is rice dextrose powder dissolved in hot water away from meals.

I was also never much of a beleiver in food combining but personal experience has shown that carbs during my meals lead to indigestion and gas while I have minimal symptoms if I eat them away from meals.

Still everyone is different and I have read about people healing their stomach on a all meat and fat diet with no carbs so do what works for you. Keep an eye out for dry eyes, heart palpitations and energy issues however.

On another note what vegetables do you best tolerate? So far I am eating zucchini, carrots and green beans all well cooked. I would like to introduce romaine lettuce, brocolli and kale for more nutrition (Vitamin K, Folate) but am concerned since the later two are cruciferous. I have heard that boiling cruciferous vegetables for a long time makes them easier to digest and most of the problematic compounds leak into the water.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

My symptoms persist even after fasting for longer than 24 hours. They are different from yours. I found that what works for others doesn't work for me. I suspect that the reason is that my problem is fungal while yours is bacterial.

Aglaee Jacob's diet has not solved my IBS but has helped me to learn something about it.

I introduced white rice and potato, which are low fodmaps low sugar starches that are available at the organic market. These have not solved my IBS so I continue with my search.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Dennis, I might have given the wrong impression in my opening post. I'm not advocating a very low carbohydrate diet, rather the opposite: eating as many vegetables as you can safely tolerate so I might have to edit my opening post. Yes, I agree with your list of veges - any low FODMAP vegetables that you can eat without generating gas. If you can tolerate raw salad vegetables then these are even better. Carrot, cucumber, olives are all low FODMAP. While meat and seafood are safe foods generally, they're not safe if you have too much. This is why this diet is so tough because low starch vegetables have very few calories so you tend to eat more meat and fish to fill up on. I'm trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat and fill up more on vegetables. Raw vegetables are good for people like me who are older and probably don't generate enough stomach acid. I just found that the salads for lunch made a big difference to evacuation the next day. The BMs were much more solid. This is the surprising thing about insoluble fibre. It bulks up stool and has the added benefit of tending not to feed bacteria. Your question on boiling vegetables is an interesting one. I emailed the Monash university some years ago asking what levels of FODMAPs were reduced by boiling but I didn't get a response. It did mention on their website that they are considering a study on this.

Jaumeb, sorry I couldn't help. I think the Candida diet excludes sugar and starchy vegetables so I'm not sure about the rice and potato, which are the 2 highest starch foods. If your pain persists after 24 hours fasting then is your pain constipation related? I've found that the only foods that don't constipate are low FODMAP vegetables and salad, but you have to be able to digest them properly. This might take time to work up to.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

Tummyrumbles, no worries, I just know that when i went too low on carbohydrate I had a LOT of bad symptoms so I wanted to make sure you were aware of the risks. The issue with using vegetables as carbohydrate sources is that most safe vegetables like greens and cucumbers have almost none. Carrots and other root vegetables have some but then you run into issues with FODMAP, Fiber or Starch. I am basically treating my carbohydrate intake as a supplement by using rice dextrose powder to make sure I stay above 50 grams (so I am not ketogenic) and get my nutrition elsewhere. Did you eat your lollies with your meal or away from it? I also read that our body has a harder time digesting dry foods so that may also cause an issue.

Are you still eating 6 meals so as not to overeat? How much meat do you eat per meal? I admit I am curious if I have a similar issue as I felt better following a clean restaurant meal and the only difference I could see was that it was likely lower calorie then my usual meals. I am underweight and really need to gain weight so I need to add 3-4 tablespoons of various fats to my meal (since veggies are lower calorie and I lowered my meat portions) to have enough calories which even then is still only 600 to 800 per meal. If this is leading to undigested food however that is something I want to avoid.

It hasn't been studied but it is generally agreed that FODMAPS are water soluble (hence why Monash does not recommend using onions in soups then taking them out). The vegetables obviously lose some of their FODMAPS in water, the question is then how much and will it make a big enough difference.

Have you tried any of the Brassica vegetables like Brocolli or Kale? Boiling for 30 minutes apparently almost completely reduces their goitrogen content so it seems cooking/soaking in water helps digestion on a lot of fronts. I am looking for alternatives to spinach since I was overeating it and am worried about it's oxalate content (its been compared to phytates as problematic compound) so I am trying to find good vitamin k and folate veggies. Romaine Lettuce seems to be fairly safe for individuals with IBS and is another one I want to try.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Tummy, I am not constipated (thankfully). I suspect that the "candida diet" found in many places is actually good for SIBO. Some people with unexplained symptoms self-diagnose with "candida" and when they symptoms resolve with the "candida diet" they see it as confirmation that they had candida. The actual fungal overgrowth sufferers are misleaded by those who assumed they had "candida".

The result is that the fungal overgrowth sufferers follow a diet that is not the best for them.

This discussion was an eye-opener for me:
https://www.paleohacks.com/ketosis/candida-and-ketosis-10775

I suffer from candida ovegrowth diagnosed with stool culture. I also have toenail fungus and other signs of fungal overgrowth.


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## InvestigatorLG (Feb 23, 2016)

Tummyrumbles, I also want to thank you for your posts that helped me manage the symptoms a lot. But the truth is I have done all the diets possible. Even the REAL diet for candida for 6 weeks, event took nystatin and fluconazole with the strick diet. It did not work!

after that No carbs diet, fodmap also for a year or more. Now I'm back on the fodmap, LOW carbs, diet

How can candida be present in that area and never be detected by modern science. I mean I found the most open minded doctor in the world (he is a gastroenterologist and a colo-rectal surgeon) and he never mention this possibility?


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## InvestigatorLG (Feb 23, 2016)

Also just an example I could give if someone wants to test this. Is the seaweed rolls used for sushi.. only the seaweed rolls. They are gluten free, low fodmap, organic etc etc. I tried eating packs of roll sheets for fun on a day. The smell was hell!! The smell could clear out a building


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## InvestigatorLG (Feb 23, 2016)

Same thing for protein shake, even pure protein shake no flavor. The smell that comes after that also very bad


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

The ketogenic diet is dangerous. I found I felt a lot worse when I over-loaded on meat and it's just not necessary. People go on a low carb diet out of frustration as they feel that all carbs feed bacteria and that they can't tolerate carbs at all. This isn't true. You just boil your low FODMAP veges until you can tolerate them. Insoluble fibre hardly feeds bacteria at all.

There's a lot of misinformation about carbs. Carbs are plant foods, so include all fruits & vegetables. The problem carbs are the polysaccharides or starches so things like rice, wheat and all grains, potatoes are all high in starch which are believed to feed pathogens more than good bacteria although this has never really been explained. Sweet potato has some starch, but in much smaller amounts than high starch carbs. Low starch vegetables tend to be high in fibre & FODMAPs as Denis pointed out.

This was my diet today and I had about 2 gasses. It's about 7.30 pm and still no gas:

breakfast: 6.00 am. omelette with steamed green beans & baby carrot. Pot of black tea.

lunch 12.30: salami, dill pickles, olives, cucumber, 2 whole baby beetroot

bottle of water throughout the day.

3.00 pm. Tin salmon. banana.

I'm still to have dinner but will probably have meat with more green beans, pumpkin, carrot, bok choi with butter in the veges. Maybe another banana.

That's a fairly typical day for me. You do get used to this diet and I stopped feeling sorry for myself after a while. I think IBS is a warning sign for cancer, diabetes etc. I had other things happening, bad cramping in the calves that can be signs of diabetes so I really had to quit the sugar. I think sugar was the final piece of the puzzle for me.

Most of this diet is low-starch and reasonably high in fibre. I think this diet is more high-carb if anything, but low starch. I only steam my veges for about 10 minutes.

When it's time to start reintroducing high FODMAPs the general recommendation is no more than 1/2 a cup of something like broccoli, which I think is the easiest medium FODMAP vege. Bok Choi is a good substitute for spinach and low FODMAP. I have this a lot.

It's a very simple diet with nothing questionable. No meds, no supplements, no alcohol of course, no anything else really.

I try to go to bed no later than 10 or I start getting hungry and don't want to eat late. This can cause indigestion as well.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

Tummyrumbles, your diet looks solid but I don't see how it can be high carb or even moderate carb unless you are eating a LOT of vegetables. The banana adds quite a bit of carbs but otherwise most of the vegetables have almost none and green beans and carrots have a net of only a couple carbs per 1/2 cup to 1 cup serving.

If this works for you then great! I just know that I had a lot of problems when my carb intake was below 50g as did many people on GAPS when they avoided fruit and honey. Still if you can tolerate a few servings of fruit that will likely get you there. I have problems with raw fruit of any kind last time I tried but cooking it might make a difference.

Have you looked into the Fast Tract diet? You are basically already following it by avoiding the foods with highest fermentation potential (Most Grains, Beans/Legumes, High Starch Veggies). There seem to be a lot of success stories for IBS/SIBO people. I do think it underestimates FODMAP so that should also be kept in mind.

InvestigatorLG, I also have issues with seaweed. I know when I was researching GAPS that it was forbidden because it contains a very hard to digest polysaccharide.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Denis said:


> Tummyrumbles, your diet looks solid but I don't see how it can be high carb or even moderate carb unless you are eating a LOT of vegetables. The banana adds quite a bit of carbs but otherwise most of the vegetables have almost none and green beans and carrots have a net of only a couple carbs per 1/2 cup to 1 cup serving.
> 
> If this works for you then great! I just know that I had a lot of problems when my carb intake was below 50g as did many people on GAPS when they avoided fruit and honey. Still if you can tolerate a few servings of fruit that will likely get you there. I have problems with raw fruit of any kind last time I tried but cooking it might make a difference.
> 
> ...


GAPS never solved my problems. Either I did it wrong or it just does not work for me.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

All, I wanted to pass along a great resource I found:

https://livingwellnessblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/the-lectin-fodmap-diet-connection/

It is an article that greatly reminded me of tummyrumbles diet (Low Fodmap and Low Lectin). It brings up a lot of good points and has a great breakdown of different foods and their FODMAP and Lectin suitability.


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Thank you for that Denis. Yes, this theory makes a lot of sense to me. Most high FODMAPs aren't toxic in themselves, things like cabbage, broccoli etc. I don't think these high FODMAPs caused our IBS, but more like inflammatory foods such as alcohol, grains, legumes and nuts that can actually destroy the intestinal lining. We can't eat vegetable high FODMAPs because of inflammation already caused by these toxins, but the veges themselves aren't harmful.

I do find myself eating more protein. The salami I eat is Csabai brand which I find quite nice. It's the fats that help make this diet tolerable as otherwise I'd be very hungry from the practically zero calories of the salads and veges at night.

I'm not sure about the fast tract diet as he allows starches. A lot of people seem to think that amylopectin, the easily digested starch, is digested immediately through the small intestine and only amylose, resistant starch, is digested slowly travelling through the colon causing fermentation there. That's why they say resistant starch is better for SIBO as this isn't broken down by bacteria in the small intestine but honestly, who would know? Where's the proof for all of this?

People also say that prebiotics are selectively fermented by beneficial bacteria only but again, is this true? Where's the studies proving this is true?

I'm not sure about the dextrose powder as this would be a problem if you had Candida and God knows we probably have that too. And who's to say that general run of the mill bacteria don't eat sugar? I'm finding it really hard getting definite answers on what bacteria actually eat and where they eat it. Sugar is also very inflammatory and I don't think it matters what kind of sugar it is - all sugars affect immunity and cause inflammation. The human body just wasn't designed to eat highly concentrated flours of sugar and grains. If we didn't get IBS from foods like this we'd get diabetes or cancer so I view IBS as a warning.

If you want a safe way to get more calories I'd try a diet similar to mine but add some mashed sweet potato. This is filling and a lot less toxic than white potato.If you're still hungry try hard cheese as it's probably a lot safer than sugar.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

Tummyrumbles, good to hear the diet is working for you. I also have to have a lot of added fat otherwise I would not be getting anywhere near the correct amount of calories. I remember reading about zero carb diets where they recommend people onky eat meat and water for the first month. I can see how people would lose weight because I do not see any way to get a sufficient amount of calroies that way unless you are eating 2 to 3 pounds of meat per day.

I use the fast tract diet to track the fermentation potential of foods but I tune it to foods I can tolerate. I like his theory of undigested carbahydrate feeding bacteria and using the glycemic index to figure out how much undigested food there is. Then you keep under a crrtain threshold so as not to overfeed them. I joined the facebook group and there seem to be a lot of success stories for IBS and SIBO. As I mentioned his diet and yours are fairly similar (meats, lots of fat, mainly salad vegetables). The only high fermentation potential I see if the banana and carrots and since ypu do not eat much of either it is likely fine.

I did get tested for candida through a blood test and it came back negative so that is one thing I am not worried about. I don't necessarily recommend dextrose it is just something that works for me as I have issues tolerating starches and fruits. I agree it is hard to find information on what does and does not feed bacteria but my theory is that if dextrose is absorbed fast enough in the gut to significantly raise blood sugar tben it does not ferment in the small intestine. I do agree that it is better to get your carbs from real food but unfortunately people with IBS may need to supplement with easily aborbed carbs until they can tolerate real food again.

Once I can I will try reintroducing sweet potato or fruit and see what happens. I am glad I found the information on lectins as it really resonated with me and I think is why my IBS became much worse in the past year. I have been avoiding wheat but I ate a lot of dairy, tomatoes, potatoes and gluten free products. If lectins damage the gut lining I was easily eating a huge amount.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

A study I came across found lectins present in vegetable oils.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3669929

It seems that the more recent studies are examining the lectin content of these oils as the reason for the ill effects caused by their consumption.

This is somewhat saddening as I was hoping to add high oleic sunflower and hazlenut oil to my fats since they look similar to olive oil in their fatty profile. If the oils made from the seeds and nuts still have lectins however then it might be best to avoid them.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Denis said:


> Tummyrumbles, good to hear the diet is working for you. I also have to have a lot of added fat otherwise I would not be getting anywhere near the correct amount of calories. I remember reading about zero carb diets where they recommend people onky eat meat and water for the first month. I can see how people would lose weight because I do not see any way to get a sufficient amount of calroies that way unless you are eating 2 to 3 pounds of meat per day.
> 
> I use the fast tract diet to track the fermentation potential of foods but I tune it to foods I can tolerate. I like his theory of undigested carbahydrate feeding bacteria and using the glycemic index to figure out how much undigested food there is. Then you keep under a crrtain threshold so as not to overfeed them. I joined the facebook group and there seem to be a lot of success stories for IBS and SIBO. As I mentioned his diet and yours are fairly similar (meats, lots of fat, mainly salad vegetables). The only high fermentation potential I see if the banana and carrots and since ypu do not eat much of either it is likely fine.
> 
> ...


I tested negative for candida in blood test and positive in stool test.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

Jaumeb, how is that possible? I know the opposite can happen since the antibodies stick around even if the overgrowth is gone but I have never heard of a negative blood but positive stool test. Still, thanks for sharing. I will put stool testing candida on my list of things to stool test.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Denis said:


> Jaumeb, how is that possible? I know the opposite can happen since the antibodies stick around even if the overgrowth is gone but I have never heard of a negative blood but positive stool test. Still, thanks for sharing. I will put stool testing candida on my list of things to stool test.


Make sure you eat something to feed the candida the days before you take the stool sample. First time I was on a VLC and nothing showed up. Second time I was eating pumpkin and carrots and there was candida overgrowth.


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## Denis (Feb 10, 2012)

That could be it. I was also VLC when the blood test was done. Is there a diet or protocol for candida you have been doing?


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Denis said:


> That could be it. I was also VLC when the blood test was done. Is there a diet or protocol for candida you have been doing?


I think that the tests can come back negative even when there is overgrowth. See dr Hyman article "is hidden fungus making you ill?"


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