Week 23 – Insoluble and Soluble Foods

What I Learned in Week 23

Overall:  This week I’m learning the importance of having all food groups.  The starch is needed to bind the nutrition within my body and I’m seeing results of that this week.  To help keep things binding while the stuff exits, I need to focus more on soluble foods.  Included below are those soluble foods I can have + my daily diary on starch.  According to the No Starch Forums, I should have a flare-up if I eat this much starch.  But as you can see below, I don’t have any major spikes in health this week.

Insoluble and Soluble Foods:

Soluble fiber dissolves in water. Insoluble fiber does not. To some degree these differences determine how each fiber functions in the body and benefits your health.  These information tables show us what is insoluble and what is soluble.    Let’s look at rice and potatoes for example:

  • Brown Rice (1/2 cup cooked): 1.4g fiber, 1.3g soluble, .1g insoluble
  • Potatoes (1 small):  2.4g fiber, 2.4g soluble, 4,8g insoluble

For me, I need much more soluble fiber in my diet.  So I would eat more rice than potatoes. Why is soluble fiber so special? Because unlike any other food category, it soothes and regulates the digestive tract, stabilizes the intestinal contractions resulting from the gastrocolic reflex, and normalizes bowel function from either extreme. That’s right – soluble fiber prevents and relieves BOTH diarrhea and constipation. Nothing else in the world will do this for you.

Update – November 9, 2012:  One of the most effective soluble “foods” for me is acacia fiber and I take it every morning to help “bind” my system.

Other foods that I can have that are soluble:
  • Apple (with skin)
  • Banana
  • Blackberries
  • Grapefruit
  • Kiwi Fruit
  • Tangerine
  • Orange
  • Psyllium Husk (highest)
  • Pinto & White Beans (need to test)
  • Artichoke
  • Asparagus
  • Green Peas
  • Okra
  • Edamame
  • White Rice

Testing Rice:  Due to recent test results, I must now eat starches to balance my system.  However, this goes completely against the theories of the No / Low Starch Diet, NSD / LSD, (no grains, 2nd row) which my diet was originally based from.  Symptoms can take 3-4 days to fully manifest, and here are the daily events of what happened after:

NOTE: neck / shoulder and various pains fluctuated between mild to none, hips, ankles, and spots throughout body are hardest to move after getting up from a sitting position, and sharp pains of gas happen after a main meal is consumed (I’m assuming it’s adjusting to the rice).

  • 6/18 – Took a nap after eating the rice and felt instantly better – more mobility, less pain, and more energy (allowing me to do some things I haven’t done in months).
  • Morning after 6/19, my nose feels stuffy, but the pain has not increased.
  • Afternoon and evening the stuffiness went away and continued feeling better than I was before I ate the rice.
  • 6/20 (2 days after 1st rice) – Woke up and left leg is doing shooting pains again.  Went to the chiropractor to “mirror image” me & fix the issue.  I ate another portion of similar size at noon, went to sleep for two hours and got up hurting and tired.  Evening time was not too bad, but still limping from the left hip.
  • 6/21 Woke up at 2:30am and had to go #2 badly.  However, I was feeling much better when I woke up and it continues to be better throughout the morning.  Hips are much better than yesterday, but still limping a bit.  Ankles (especially right) keep swelling up throughout day.  Took a small walk around 7:45pm.
  • 6/22 – Went to bed at 10:30pm, got up at 1am, 2am, 4:30am, and then finally 6:30am.  Left leg is starting to get shooting pains again & feet continue to be swollen throughout the morning and day.  Chiropractor at 10am then 1/2 cup brown rice at noon with some chicken & spinach.  Pains throughout body / tired and took a nap (due to chiropractor – this is typical).  Woke up and feeling better but still limping.  Evening time was able to pick up groceries at WalMart & then go to dinner where I had a 10oz. steak.
  • 6/23 – Only woke up once and the swelling in the ankles has come down (due to the L-Carnitine in the steak?) & still limping in the morning.  Went to the pool at 11:30am & then felt the best I’ve felt all week – no shooting pains from the hip & upper-body pains are diminished.  Took a nap and got up without limping as much as I used to.  Went to see the movie “Brave” and sat for 2 1/2 hours (50 minutes of commercials!) and felt the pain in my hips throughout the movie.  Ate big fajita (no tortillas) at Moe’s and was able to go to Whole Foods and got done around 9pm.  My ankles were really feeling it towards the end, but movement helped with the hips.
  • 6/24 – Got up twice throughout the night as usual and woke up with some hip pain (the usual, hardest to get up but gradually gets better).  Ankles continue to swell up but the pain is still not as bad as before I had that steak on 6/22.  Took a nap at 12:30 and pain is mainly felt in the ankles when I walk around too much.  Ate 1 cup of brown rice with spinach & salmon around 3pm – feeling slower / little more tired (but then again the weather has been rainy all weekend long).  Late afternoon vacuumed, watered neighbor’s plants & did some small housework.  Evening time must be paying for it (night time is by far the worst time for me) – right shoulder blade aches, ankles swell (iced 3 times today), and left hip doing a shooting pain getting out of the chair.  Overall just feel drained and achy.
  • 6/25 – Got 9 hours of sleep & woke up twice; feeling better than last night (had evening & morning BM that might have helped).  Ate less at breakfast and kept feeling great throughout morning and chiropractor (adjustment & traction were the easiest they’ve been in months).  Took a nap and woke up with some pains & limping (but not as bad as last night) as I forgot to take an ibuprofen.  Evening time better than last night even after having dessert (almond butter, black currant jam & chocolate coconut ice cream in a small bowl).
  • 6/26 – Woke up three times and tried to lie on my side after the 1st time I woke up.  While I got 1 1/2 hours from it, I paid the price until the morning.  Left hip was acting up again (most likely due to the chiropractor) but has gone away mostly after putting on the orthotics and walking around some.  Energy levels seem to be the same as the past few days / mornings.  Eating a smaller portion of breakfast is helping out my stomach.  Busy work day, but I was able to get a nap in.  Eating nuts & seeds throughout the day.  As the day progresses, I don’t feel right.  And as usual, it amplifies after 8pm – feeling like I have the flu (slow, tired, hard to think and achy areas).  I was able to get in a small walk in the evening.
OVERALL SYNOPSIS:  Although you see many fluctuations, there were no flare-ups of any kind.  My body is rebuilding itself and things just take time to fix.  Going to the chiropractor helps me in the long run (i.e. used to have shoulder blade pains, but they’re gone due to traction, larger disk space in lower-lumbar spine) but can hurt me / make me sore hours after I do it and/or the next morning.  But the symptoms are decreasing (i.e. time length of bad hip decreased from 8 days to 2 days to the same day).  The starch from the rice has done a good job binding the nutrients that I need.  Examples are overall increased energy, fats don’t pass through my body, and swelling decreasing.  I wouldn’t be surprised if my SED rate (inflammation rate) has gone down.  But, I’m still not there yet and need to constantly monitor my condition throughout each day.
Brown Rice and Spinach
Typical Rice Meal + Protein – Organic, Gluten-Free Jasmine Brown Rice

My Health in Week 23

  • Overall:  Fluctuating but improving is my overall theme this week. Sole Support orthotics are working to help when my hip gets bad, but the high arch is not good for my ankles (I go barefoot for that).  We had a tropical storm “Debbie” go through Florida and had numerous days of clouds, rain & wind.  Combined with the ups & downs of my health, it’s been a pretty lonely and depressing week.  I look forward to the sun and doing a fun activity on Saturday.
  • Sleep:  As with many other previous weeks, I am still waking up twice a night (sometimes once, sometimes 3 times).  I go to bed at 10pm, get up around 1am (take 1 ibuprofen), then around 4am (take 1 ibuprofen, 1 probiotic, and fish oil), then finally get up at 6:30-7:30am.
  • Current Areas of Concern:  Hips / ankles are still sore / swollen, energy levels plummet at night (feels like a mild flu each night).  I long for a good solid night of sleep.  Neck is a little harder to turn to the right and difficult to get up out of chair & the bed.  Weight has dropped again, but I’m investigating ways to build that back up with starches & good fats.
  • Areas of Improvement:  Continuing ibuprofen regiment to reduce inflammation & pain (alternating times throughout the day as pain is the least then).  Only needed to take 1 nap a day since my energy has increased & pain decreased.  Had the best chiropractic adjustment / traction on Monday in months.  Just landed a few new projects for work & we’ll see how I can cope sitting in the chair longer (standing isn’t much of an option since the ankles swell up quickly).
  • Enbrel:  It has been 18 1/2 weeks since my last shot.
  • My lowest weight was 129.5 lbs. and a BMI of 18.12.