Monday 28 April 2014

Amylopectin and sticky rice

Sticky rice - well firstly it is obviously sticky :) Also called "glutinous rice", although it doesn't contain any of what we call "gluten", and Gluten intolerant people can eat this rice too of course.

It is noticeably different from normal rice. The grains really stock to each other like glue and its great for desserts. If you can find some Thai sticky rice at an Asian grocer I would recommend that, as so far that has been the best quality. 

Give it a try :) I buy the glutinous rice flour and make some pretty nice pancakes out of it. Way safer than normal rice. 

-- Don't overdo it --

Start small and work up so that your body can acclimatise to all the carbs in sticky rice. If you've been on the NSD for a while, then your body won't be used to so many carbs. I overdid it and had rampant candida .. I was making lots of pancakes using glutinous rice flour and eating that with honey.



-- But it has Gluten, doesn't it? --

Sticky rice definitely doesn't have any of the gluten found in wheat. The "Glutinous" part of the name refers to its stickiness, and that is the result of the high amylopectin content. Your body of course is the ultimate determinant. And more besides, on the NSD we are not "no gluten" (which is a protein), rather we are "no starch".

You can check here, truly it doesn't contain gluten:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutinous_rice
http://www.celiac.com/articles/181/1/Safe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Safe-Ingredients/Page1.html


-- Update May 2014 --
Lately I have been noticing that when I haven't had glutinous rice for a while I have some very small brief stiffness if I really overdo it. For some reason my body does seem to be able to adapt to it fairly quickly. Once I am used to it again I actually seem to have less stiffness than usual? Well, definitely a whole heap more energy. The only reason I am really avoiding it at the moment is my concern about Candida / Fungal issues.


-- Related : --

Friday 18 April 2014

Freakin' fungus is causing disease

I just went through some of my personal logs and realised three health problems were all linked. They were all worsened by the same things (eg. sucrose, chocolate) and all improved by the same things (eg. high dose Lufenuron, or bicarb flush). Dammit, why did it take so long for me to work this out. Reminds me of the story of the hair and the tortoise - slow and steady wins the race. I get to the solution through sheer stubborn perseverance.

The three linked health issues which I've been battling for years are:

* Fungal infections of the skin - jock itch mainly. Also used to have dandruff which I would control by using Ketoconazole shampoo, but it cleared completely on the No Starch Diet
* Proctitis, or Pruritis.. Latin for "itchy bum" (or more literally "inflamed bum"). 
* Prostatis (inflamed prostate) - painful urination, urge to pee, and throbbing pain exactly where the prostate is

-- all three are worsened by: --

**** Chocolate - sugar & fat
**** Sucrose - particularly after eating any form of land animal fat (butter, meat, etc). Fish oils and vegetable oils both seem to be neutral. 

-- all three are improved by: --

*** Lufenuron - at high dose. I need to take about 2.8g per day and all 3 symptoms clear up. Lufenuron works by destroying the chitin armour that fungus require to survive. 
*** Water flush & bicarb. Such a simple solution..  cheap, harmless & unassuming, yet so effective. I do this first thing in the morning upon waking: Do not eat anything. Take half a teaspoon (or one small teaspoon) of baking soda and dissolve in two glasses of water. Drink this all at once. If you are hungry or have eaten it won't work as it will then react with stomach acid to form salt and carbon dioxide. 



-- Update April 2014 --
* I'm thinking sinusitis / rhinitis needs to be added here..? This responds to Lufenuron too, so I think it must be fungal also. 




-- Update May 2014 ---------------------
[posted here: http://www.kickas.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=503203 ]

Still battling with fungi myself (Candida, etc). Have been using Lufenuron, but am keen to find something cheaper that is as effective. The number of inflammatory problems that improve greatly when I take Lufenuron is fascinating to me: Prostatitis, Sinusitis/Rhinitis, Proctitis, as well as dehydration at night, and of course the usual yeast infections of the skin. 

..Fascinating to me because of the questions that necessarily arise: how many other immune & inflammatory diseases are caused by fungi ?!? And what exactly is it that fungus does which causes this. The standard explanation would be leaky guts, but I am getting less and less convinced by this after trying Lufenuron. I actually think that certain fungus may have learnt to manipulate our immune systems and make them hyper-reactive to bacteria, and this in order that the immune system would spend less time attacking fungus.

Here is a very weird observation: 
After attacking fungi with Lufenuron I *seem* to have less of an AS type reaction to starch and more of an asthmatic type reaction. Super weird, and not sure what to make of it.

-- Lufenuron --
This compound works by inhibiting synthesis of chitin in the cell wall of fungi. Fungi need chitin to survive, without their chitin to defend their cell wall they bleed out. There is no doubt in my mind that pathogenic fungi have worked out very clever ways to evade our immune systems. That is how fungi are known to operate. Chitin is not used by our bodies, so it is safe to destroy it. OK here is the scary part - chitin is also the exoskeleton of insects, and hence Lufenuron is also a very good pesticide. 

I'm not telling you guys to use Lufenuron, but I do want those of us who suffer with fungal infections to know that this is out there - for educational purposes lets say. And there are other options to be sure, it is just that I know this one and feel I have to report what I have seen. That simple carb restriction only makes the fungus a bit more dormant, in some cases that will be enough to tip the balance in our immune systems favour but not always. Fungi like Candida are still fairly happy to munch away on our body tissue when a ready supply of sugar isn't available..

-- Other more natural options --
Other more natural compounds to try are: Ellagic acid (raspberries are a great source, other berries are good too), and Polygodial (found in: Horopito, Tasmanian pepper/mountain pepper/Cornish pepper leaf, Paracress and Water-pepper)

-- update : ACV --
I know that Apple Cider Vinegar helps with a wide range of health problems (have a look on earthclinic.com), and I have used it successfully with prostatitis and rhinitis/sinusitis. People seem to think it has some alkalising ability, but I am thinking maybe it has compounds that are powerful at killing off rival fungi and yeast much like penicillin does.