Living with Ankylosing spondylitis means an aching body! It means, for some, also a rather limited mobility. With it comes a lack of enthusiasm for any kind of sport. I, for one, had a particular aversion to anything that brought me beyond snail-pace, although that might be attributed to ‘me being me‘.

A while back, I started looking more closely into the research that has done in this area. Turns out rather little. A nice first information can be found at Wikipedia. BUT … I did find an interesting article concerning a starch-free diet approach. Quite a number of people suffering from Ankylosing spondylitis were doing a lot better while following a starch-free diet. Hmmm! Interesting. As field studies are always difficult to stage, I wondered if I should start a self-attempt.

How difficult could it possibly get? Right?

Leave out starch. That’s all? EASY! Well. Turns out it can get a lot harder than I thought. As a Scandinavian by heart and a German by birth, leaving bread and beer on the table – UNTOUCHED – was a bit hard. Especially the bread. A breakfast staple for me, I still have a hard time to go past a bakery.

After several weeks of yoghurt & fruit or bacon & eggs for breakfast, I became rather tired of the whole idea. Not to mention the tons of lettuce for lunch and dinner. I wanted to throw all of it into the f*** bucket and move on.

Thank God for good friends (and sisters).

Sisu is a Finnish word that – while lacking a proper translation into any other language – is generally seen to describe the spirit of determination, bravery and resilience. The ‘moving forward against all odds’ kind of thing. So I decided to soldier on.

Now, after several months of eating starch-free, I can tell you “It works!” (At least for me, although I consider myself a mild case.) I feel better and look better (if I may be the judge of that) and am currently busy with completing a 350km Walking challenge. Something that I would not have done, let alone initiated a few months ago.

However, after all those trials and tribulations, I want to share a little of my experience. You don’t really need to step into the same pitfalls, right? So follow me on a food journey. (I hate the word diet, so I won’t be using it again.) The site is meant to be fun to read, but also a source of information to others with the same condition.

As I continue on my journey, I will also share some of the recipes that I adapted to a starch-free approach.