The IBS Low-Starch Diet

by Carol Smith Sinclair, Alan Ebringer (Foreword by)

Twenty per cent of the UK population - 12 million people - suffer IBS-related symptoms, but they may be unaware that the simple elimination of starch from their diet can bring dramatic relief from pain and discomfort.

In this revised edition, Carol Sinclair, a sufferer who has successfully overcome IBS and arthritic pain, brings you a revolutionary programme for a pain-free future. This practical guide will help millions to reduce their arthritic symptoms, whose pain to date has been relieved only by regular medication, with sometimes dangerous side effects.

The diet shows that a gradual reduction of starch in one's diet can dramatically reduce pain in days, to a point where drug usage is reduced and, in some cases, eliminated completely. Details of the discovery - along with case histories and a practical guide - make Carol Sinclair's book a first in the world.

The IBS Low-Starch Diet also contains over 200 delicious starch- and gluten-free recipes, along with a comprehensive guide to eating out.

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 1997

Reviews

[Michael]

I was mixed on this book. It comes recommended in certain autoimmune circles, but it was hard for to grapple with the nature of the writing. Much of the book makes assertions and claims without any kind of proper citation or references. As someone who values evidence-based facts, I really like to see references to studies or at least some kind of external resources when I read non-fiction. There really wasn't any of that here. Though the book does have a references section, I don't know what those references apply to because there was no use of superscripts (for example) in the text. The biggest area this bothered me in was chapter 5: But Don't We Need to Eat a High-Carbohydrate Diet?, where a lot of historical context was explored, but there was no evidence given to back up claims being made. None of this is to say I necessarily believe the claims to be false, but without supporting evidence I'm left to wonder. Especially when it comes to food and nutrition, it can be difficult to believe claims being made since there are so many on these topics that are diametrically opposed.

While earlier chapters do give background and are useful for later chapters, the content I was primarily interested in came in chapters 6 (More About Starch), 7 (Which foods contain starch?) and 8 (How to identify starch in your food). I found I would have probably been satisfied having only read those chapters, or at least only having read chapter 6 onward.

One particular passage I found eye-opening was this:

After a lot of thought and testing, I realized that every time I ate cooked vegetables, the symptoms returned. Raw vegetables and cooked or raw fruits caused no problems. But Why?
Then I remembered a very crotchety chemistry teacher - about a thousand years ago, it seemed - teaching us that vegetables contain starch and drawing diagrams on the board showing how the cell walls of vegetables are changed during cooking, releasing the starch. If vegetables are eaten raw, the starch travels little waterproof envelopes through the digestive system and is not released. Fruits, on the other hand, contain starch when they are green, but upon ripening the starch turns to fruit sugar (fructose). This is why, if they were properly ripened, I could eat both raw and cooked fruit.
There are some exceptions to this rule, some fruits that contain starch and some vegetables that don’t - and I will list them in the next chapter.

I haven't validated this assertion with external resources yet though.

Overall I most appreciated the sections that helped me to understand starch better and the examples of what does and doesn't have starch in it. It was by no means exhaustive (plantains were never mentioned), but helpful none-the-less. It's surprisingly difficult to find information on the starch content of foods. I think the problem is compounded because of the nature of the starch content changing when certain foods are transformed (ex. via cooking).

[Brita]

Really helpful introduction for anyone who interested in dietary solutions to digestive pain. I have Crohn's Disease, an IBD, and I'm willing to try cutting out starches. What I particularly like about this book is a plan of which starches to eliminate first, since even if you are sensitive to starch, you might be able to tolerate some of them.

[Sandy Miller]

Turns out that I’m intolerant to all milk.
Wasted years thinking it was “starch”