IBS Low Starch Diet

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a bowel disorder of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract resulting in recurring abdominal pain and discomfort, alterations in bowel function, diarrhea, constipation (or a combination of both), usually over long periods (months or years). IBS may affect as many as 20% of people in the UK at some time in their lives, and reportedly 10%-20% in the USA have been diagnosed with IBS. Females represent over 70% of IBS sufferers. Recent findings suggest that the colons of IBS sufferers react to stimuli that do not affect normal colons, and their reactions are far more severe - irregular or increased GI muscle contractions producing lower abdominal pain and cramping (often severe), extreme diarrhea and/or constipation, gas and bloating.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is not the same as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which refers to two chronic diseases causing intestinal inflammation: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, although IBS and IBD have some common features.

Carol Sinclair's IBS Low Starch Diet

Note this book is out of print and only available here at AbeBooks.

There are a number of dietary approaches to the management of IBS; Carol Sinclair's IBS Low Starch Diet differs from most in two respects:

she herself is an IBS sufferer who has successfully overcome IBS pain through her own efforts to identify foods that contribute to the problem
the main focus of the diet is the elimination or reduction of starch

Carol Sinclair's book 'The IBS Low Starch Diet' details her years of struggle with IBS without any answers until she heard a doctor talking about the theory that among other chronic conditions, IBS was caused by food intolerance. It was stated that eliminating wheat flour from the diet could eliminate the symptoms! She promptly gave up wheat in her diet with immediate relief from her symptoms, and for about a year remained totally free from pain and bloating. When the symptoms returned, she set out on the task of identifying problem foods, spending many years researching and refining her diet as a virtual 'walking laboratory'. Her eventual discovery that starch was the cause of her IBS symptoms has resulted in her book 'The IBS Starch-Free Diet', the complete guide to a starch-free lifestyle. There is a chapter on each of these topics:

Her years of advice from doctors to no avail
Explanation of irritable bowel syndrome
Behavior of normal digestion
What starch is
Effects of eating starch and the reasons for those effects
Foods containing starch
Recognition of starch in food
Managing the Sinclair Diet System (IBS Starch-free Diet)
What can be eaten
Nutritional safety of the diet
Side-effects of a starch-free diet
Eating-out guide
Shopping suggestions
Over 200 recipes for:

soups, starters and fish;
main courses of chicken, rabbit, turkey, pork, beef, lamb;
everyday meals and salads;
desserts, baking, sauces, candy, relishes, drinks, snacks.

A sample menu, starch-free of course:

Starter: Scallops
Main Course: Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Salad
Dessert: Pavlova

Validity of starch effects in the diet

Significantly, two recent developments have given impetus to the starch-free, or a low-starch, diet.

There now appears to be a connection between IBS and the arthritic condition known as Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) - diagnosed in 1 in 200 adults - with the discovery that IBS and AS are often the same autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are chronic degenerative and/or inflammatory conditions resulting from abnormal immune reactions to compounds absorbed from the environment. One of the defence mechanisms of the body is to mount an immune response by launching antibodies against foreign substances in order to protect itself from potential harm. It does this by recognizing what is 'self' in order to respond to 'foreign'. In autoimmune diseases there is a failure to recognise some part of self, with the result that antibodies attack the body's own cells. This destruction may be restricted to a single organ, a localized region or the whole body. The consequences may vary from minimal to catastrophic, depending on the extent to which the body is affected. In the case of AS, it has been found that a particular bacterium normally resident in the digestive tract is the cause of AS in persons uniquely susceptible to the disease. Proliferation of the bacteria cause the immune system to manufacture antibodies, which help destroy the 'invading' substance, but appear to also attack body cells. So the bacteria are not the cause of damage to tissue, rather the body's own defenses become the problem. A diet low in starch reduces the primary food source of this bacterium, lowering the population of the species in the digestive system, with marked beneficial results. The low-starch diet has been extensively and successfully employed in treating AS sufferers at the AS Clinic at London's Middlesex Hospital.
An Australian immunologist has discovered a link between starch foods that trigger, in people who have a particular gene (the HLAB27 gene), a range of symptoms such as gut pain, back ache, foot pains, eye pains, acid reflux, stiff back, stiff neck, sciatica, achilles tendinitis and frozen shoulder.

It is possible that a simple blood test can diagnose your symptoms, and that a low-starch or starch-free diet may improve your health.

What about starch foods in other IBS diets?

The apparent paradox - soluble fiber is the single greatest dietary aid for preventing Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms initially, and for relieving them once they occur. Soluble fiber prevents and relieves BOTH diarrhea and constipation, unlike anything else. It dissolves in water (though it is not digested), absorbing excess liquid in the colon and thus preventing diarrhea, or relieving constipation by softening faeces for a smooth transition through the colon. Trouble is, soluble fiber is NOT typically found in foods usually considered to contain fiber, such as bran or raw leafy green vegetables; this is insoluble fiber.

Soluble fiber is found in foods commonly thought of as starches, though soluble fiber itself differs from starch - the chemical bonds joining its individual sugar units cannot be digested by enzymes in the human GI tract. Soluble fiber therefore has no calories because it passes through the body intact.

Insoluble fiber, like fat, is a very powerful GI tract stimulant - not good for IBS sufferers! But you can, and must, eat insoluble fiber foods, though always within the IBS dietary guidelines: never eat insoluble fiber on its own or on an empty stomach, but always with a larger quantity of soluble fiber, ensuring you cook, peel, chop, seed, dice, and/or puree all fruit and vegetables to remove the toughest insoluble fiber and break down the remainder before you eat it.

So what about the starch in insoluble (therefore digested) fiber foods?

Fiber Foods for an IBS Diet

The grain and cereal foods listed first are safer, easier, and the most versatile soluble fiber foundations for meals and snacks, but if you adopt the starch-free diet, check out how to remove starchey insoluble-fiber foods from your menu. Note that the recommended daily soluble fiber consumption for a 'normal' person is 5-10 grams.

	Serving	Soluble	Insoluble
Rice (brown)	0.5 cup cooked	0.1g	1.6g
Rice (white)	0.5 cup cooked	0.0g	0.2g
Pasta and noodles	0.5 cup cooked	0.4g	0.5g
Pasta, whole wheat	0.5 cup cooked	0.5g	1.8g
Oatmeal	1.0 cup cooked	1.8g	2.0g
Barley	0.5 cup cooked	0.9g	3.3g
Fresh white breads (except whole wheat/whole grain)	1 medium slice	0.4g	0.3g
Rice cereals	1.0 cup cooked	0.0g	0.2g
Flour tortillas	6"	0.2g	1.1g
Soybeans	0.5 cup cooked	2.3g	2.8g
Corn meal	1.0 cup cooked	0.0g	0.4g
Potatoes	0.5 cup mashed	0.9g	0.7g
Carrots	0.5 cup cooked	1.1g	1.5g
Sweet potatoes	0.5 cup cooked	1.4g	2.4g
Turnips
Rutabagas (Swedes)
Parsnips
Beets	0.5 cup cooked	0.7g	0.8g
Squash (butternut)	0.5 cup mashed	0.7g	1.0g
Pumpkins	0.5 cup mashed	0.5g	3.1g
Mushrooms	0.5 cup cooked	0.2g	1.6g
Chestnuts
Avocados (although containing some fat)	0.5 cup cooked	0.4g	0.5g
Bananas	7" long	0.7g	2.1g
Applesauce	0.5 cup cooked	0.4g	0.5g
Mangoes (medium)		1.5g	2.2g
Papayas (and digestive aids for relieving gas and indigestion)